LONDON: Chinese business tycoon Yuan Yafei is in talks with British department store group House of Fraser regarding a bid that values the company at more than £450m ($749m), a source said.
The plan was tabled by Sanpower, the Nanjing-based conglomerate founded by Yuan. The source said although the talks were advanced there was no certainty a deal would be done. The 160-year-old House of Fraser, which trades from 61 stores in Britain and Ireland and has annual sales of about $2bn, has been running a dual track sale process — looking for potential buyers while also considering a possible initial public share offer.
Talks about a sale to French counterpart Galeries Lafayette ended in January. House of Fraser has an ownership structure with 49 percent of the holding company Highland Group owned by the representatives of failed Icelandic banks Landesbanki and Glitnir. Chairman Don McCarthy owns 20 percent, retail entrepreneurs Tom Hunter and Kevin Stanford own 11 percent and 9 percent respectively, Lloyds Banking has 5 percent and others 6 percent.Reuters
