By: Inside Retail Asia, Robert Stockdill
Thailand’s Central Group and Austrian property developer Signa have confirmed plans to acquire the luxury Swiss department-store chain Globus and eight associated property assets.
The deal expands the two companies’ existing 50-50 joint venture which owns the German department-store chain KaDeWe and is working on projects in Vienna and Dusseldorf. Central Group also owns Italy’s Rinascente and Denmark’s Illum stores.
Tos Chirathivat, executive chairman and CEO at Central Group, says the US$1 billion deal includes “prime Swiss properties” and a hotel and makes Central Group “one of the largest luxury retailers in Europe”.
“Since entering Europe in 2011 by Rinascente acquisition, our business in Europe has grown from €200 million to a projected €2 billion this year. Today, we are operating 19 cities in five European countries, plus two under development, eight of which will be flagship stores.
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