Selfridges' new Thai and Austrian owners rack up £1.7bn of debt - Retail Gazette

Selfridges is one of London’s iconic department stores (with additional branches in Manchester and Birmingham), with Harrods and Harvey Nichols as competitors.

It has been through several owners in recent decades: Sears Group (unrelated to Sears of the US, but no longer exists, conglomerate deconstructed), then Galen Weston (who has withdrawn from their international department store strategy), and now new investors.

The Central Group from Thailand has a good track record in Asia - does that show future performance for Selfridges? The fact that loans are underwritten by large banks and secured by the 2 stores is slightly concerning.