Thailand’s Central Group and Signa Holding announced on August 18 they have completed the acquisition of luxury retailer, Selfridges Group, from the Weston Family.
Selfridges Group portfolio, which comprises 18 stores under four banners in three countries, namely Selfridges in England, Brown Thomas & Arnotts in Ireland, and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, has been integrated with Central and Signa’s combined existing portfolio of 22 luxury department stores and two new stores to open soon in Dusseldorf and Vienna.
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Following the acquisition news, which broke in December 2021, Stefano Della Valle, chief executive officer of Central and Signa’s luxury department store group in Europe, will lead Selfridges Group under his expanded role, while Anne Pitcher, current Managing Director of The Selfridges Group, will as already planned remain in the company’s leadership team until the end of the year to ensure a smooth integration into the newly formed group.
Tos Chirathivat, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Central Group, and Dieter Berninghaus, Chairman of the Executive Board of Signa Holding will be the new Co-Chairman of the group.
“We are long-term investors with a well-established partnership and shared vision to reshape and reinvent the luxury retail industry,” said Chirathivat and Berninghaus, in a dual statement.
“We are committed to create the world`s leading luxury omni-channel platform for all our customers through both online and offline channels. We are excited to meet and work with our new colleagues, as well as brand partners to achieve this vision.”
Thailand-based Central, owned by the Chirathivat family for four generations, is a leading multi-format and multi-category retail group focusing on physical and digital retail formats, hotels, restaurants and real estate across Southeast Asia and Europe.
Central began its expansion into Europe with the acquisition of Rinascente in 2011. After acquiring the Danish department store Illum in 2013, Central partnered with Signa to jointly invest in and develop The KaDeWe Group in 2015, followed by Globus in 2020.
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Signa Holding, founded in the late 1990´s, is a leading European real estate and retail group which is fully privately owned.