Birmingham store House of Fraser and a string of others across the West Midlands could be taken over by a Chinese tycoon in a £450 million swoop, it has been revealed.
The House of Fraser group, which has 60 UK stores including the Corporation Street flagship and others in Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Leamington Spa and Wolverhampton, is being targeted by Chinese conglomerate the Sanpower Group.
The group is controlled by Yuan Yafei, a muli-millionaire former official whose business empire spans real estate, retail and technology companies.
If the Sanpower bid is successful, one of Birmingham’s best known shopping outlets will follow the likes of Rover, LDV and Birmingham City FC into Chinese hands.
Meanwhile, the Jaguar Land Rover success story of recent years is partly due to its huge export drive in China, currently the firm’s biggest market.
House of Fraser, in Corporation Street, formerly popular with older generations of shoppers under the Rackhams banner, is one of Birmingham’s best known shopping locations.
The group also ran the Beatties store near the foot of Corporation Street for a number of years, but closed the outlet in 2005 after piling up heavy losses.
The House of Fraser group is currently owned by a number of groups, including Icelandic banks, and business entrepreneurs Sir Tom Hunter and Kevin Sandford.
Meanwhile, Sanpower owns one of China’s oldest and largest retailers, the Nanjing Xinjiekou department store, which was opened in August 1952.
The group has grown rapidly and controls more than 100 companies, with a workforce of almost 30,000.
House of Fraser was swallowed up by Icelandic investment group Baugur in 2006 in a £351 million takeover but the banking crisis saw other Icelandic groups take control.
Sanpower have confirmed that talks are underway over House of Fraser.
The retailer has declined to make any comment.
