Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has made an offer that would significantly increase its stake in luxury UK retailer Selfridges, according to a document Bloomberg News claims to have seen.
PIF already owns a 10 per cent share in the Selfridges properties, while 40 per cent is owned by the troubled real estate and retail empire, Signa and the remaining 50 per cent is owned by the Thai retail conglomerate Central Group.
Selfridges was bought by Signa and Central in 2021 for £4 billon, with the business split between an operating company and a property company.
Central moved to take control of the operating company when Signa began to run into financial difficulties last year, by converting a £317 million loan into a majority stake in Selfridges.
According to an insolvency report seen by Bloomberg and filed by Signa's property group, PIF has made a cash price offer of £1 million ($1.3 million) for the 40 per cent stake.
The properties include sites in London’s Oxford Street and Manchester, and the report said the Saudi wealth fund was carrying out due diligence.
The potential Signa deal comes as the sprawling group of companies founded by the Austrian tycoon, Rene Benko, unwinds after its key property units collapsed into bankruptcy at the end of last year.
PIF is also a creditor to Signa and if the Selfridges deal were to go through, the Saudi fund would reduce its claims against Signa by about £52 million, according to the document.
Sale at Selfridges
Ever since Signa passed into stormy financial waters and navigated towards insolvency there have been several rumours regrading possible future stakeholders in Selfridges.
The Qatar Investment Authority was thought to be interested, as Selfridges could make an interesting stable mate to Harrods, the London luxury department store it already owns.
Likewise, Gucci-owner Kering was also thought to be in a real estate-acquisitive mood, following the $963 million deal it reached in January to buy the 115,000 square foot Fifth Avenue building that's home to its New York Gucci store.
A prime piece real estate in London's West End, Selfridges was founded in 1908 by American Harry Gordon Selfridge, and has for more than a century been at the heart of luxury retailing in London.
PIF has several investments in the UK, including in Aston Martin and Newcastle United football club.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
