Thai investor plans to buy Signa Brands: According to Business Insider, the Central Group of Thailand is planning to acquire several well-known companies from Signa Retail Luxury Holding. These brands include the world-famous Selfridges in London, the KaDeWe Group in Germany, and Globus in Switzerland.

Central Group is reportedly in talks to acquire Selfridges with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, as reported by Bloomberg. The illustrious London department store was earlier bought by the Thai company and Signa for over €4 billion ($4.3 billion) in 2022.

A separate agreement, negotiated by Signa founder Rene Benko, gave the Public Investment Fund a 10% interest in a business that owns the site where Selfridges is located after the initial purchase. Please note that separate Signa entities are in charge of the retail operations and the underlying real estate.

According to sources quoted in the story, Central Group plans to increase its stake in Selfridges to 60% and take over its operational operations.

Separately, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that Breuninger, a German fashion retailer, is one of several possible purchasers interested in buying Berlin’s famous KaDeWe department store. More than a dozen interested parties have expressed interest in the deal, which may be worth more than €100 million.

As a leading figure in Germany’s high-end retail scene, KaDeWe has a Berlin flagship store in addition to posh locations in Munich and Hamburg.