Iconic British Luxury Department Store Harrods Sold for $2.2 Billion
Mohamed al-Fayed, owner of luxury department store Harrods, has agreed to sell the iconic London store to Qatar Holding, a sovereign wealth fund from the small Arab Emirates state.
The purchase amount of $2.2 billion (£1.5 Billion) was agreed upon after Qatar Holding pledged to continue investing in the company and to protect Harrods employees' pensions.Harrods, founded in 1834 by Charles Henry Harrod, has been owned by al-Fayed since 1985 and is a world-renowned London landmark that attracts more than 15 million customers each year.
According to Lazard, the investment firm that advised al-Fayed on the sale, "Mohamed al-Fayed has decided to retire and to spend more time with his children and grandchildren." It looks like a trend is starting now that Qatar Holding is in charge of Harrods and Dubai's Istithmar PJSC owns Barneys New York.
It will be interesting to see if the trend catches on and other luxury department stores will be bought up by Arab investors.The Financial Times reported that Qatar Holding is looking to capitalize on Harrods popularity by opening its first outpost, in Shanghai.
As other such luxury icons as Chanel, Fendi, Tom Ford and Harvey Nichols increase their presence in China, this may be a good financial move for the store. However, will turning Harrods into a global chain dilute the landmark store's image?
Of note, I do not wish to imply in any way that I wrote the above article. I did not. There are times you will copy items from other blogs and news sources and I regretably did not give credit for the above story. I do believe it was from eithere the Wall Street Journal or BBC News. In reviewing their websites several days later the stories have been updated and so I can no longer be perfectly sure. My apologies.
We are certainly seeing a wave of middle Eastern countries investing around the world. This is a trend that reminds one of Japanese investments a few years ago.
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