René Benko has done it again: Probably the best-known real estate investor in Austria and head of the Signa Group has once again made purchases from major department stores around the world – in the truest sense of the word: Because Benko (44) has just got on with his Signa Holding secured half of the British luxury department store chain Selfridges. The other half goes to the Thai Central Group. This emerges from a press statement by the Canadian owner family of Selfridges, the Westons, who own a number of properties in addition to the luxury department stores.
Selfridges is moving from experienced hands to experienced hands, because Benko is known to already own a number of luxury department stores in major European cities (such as Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof in Germany, Anm,) and the new luxury shopping and hotel is also being built under his patronage Temple on Vienna’s largest shopping street: Because where the Leiner building used to be, Benko is currently working on the Austrian version of the “KaDeWe” with his Signa. The Central Group also owns several department stores in Europe.
According to an insider, the luxury shopping empire Selfridges is said to have changed hands for around four billion British pounds (4.71 billion euros). And with the change of ownership, big changes are imminent, because the new owners have big plans: Together with Selfridges, a luxury department store platform with department stores and a flourishing online business is to be created.
Selfridges, founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge at the beginning of the last century, has its head office in the heart of London. The group also owns 25 department stores in major European cities and Canada, as well as online shops. The Weston family took over Selfridges in 2003, and in the summer they decided to sell and offered the group for four billion pounds. According to insiders, investors from the Arab world and Asia as well as financial investors had put out feelers to Selfridges with its more than 10,000 employees.
Signa and Central now made the race. They take over 18 of the 25 department stores, the seven department stores in Canada are not part of the package, according to insiders. Both investors are expanding in the luxury department store segment and had already secured the Swiss department store chain Globus at the beginning of 2020.
The Central group of the Thai billionaire family Chirathivat is already involved in the luxury department stores KaDeWe in Berlin, the Italian La Rinascente and the Danish Illum – together with Benkos Signa. They now want to forge a luxury platform out of the department store empire, whose sales, according to insiders, will increase from currently around five billion euros to up to eight billion euros in 2024. The online business of the joint luxury platform will then contribute more than one billion euros.
The department store conglomerate – and thus also the KaDeWe Group in Germany – is to be controlled from a holding in London. But the local management should stay. According to insiders, the Selfridges properties, for example in the booming London market, offer potential – a luxury hotel is to be built next to the department store on the site of the parent company in Oxford Street. In the medium term, the owner structure of the new luxury holding should remain in place, said a person familiar with the process. However, this has the potential to be capable of going public one day. Real estate investor Benko has already made it onto the New York Stock Exchange with Signa Sports.
