On April 4th, Nanjing Cenbest under Sanpower Group has successfully acquired the British oldest Department Store, House of Fraser.

As for this M&A, Chairman of Sanpower Group Yuan Yanfei noted, "The M&A of House of Fraser by Nanjing Cenbest is the largest direct-purchase ever since the beginning of China's A Share and is also the biggest overseas investment in retail business by Chinese enterprises.  Founded in 1849, House of Fraser boasts a time-honoured history of 165 years. It is an outstanding department store with the honour of recognition and authorisation by British royal family, with its revenue in 2013 ranking fourth in the UK. Nanjing Cenbest is also a time-honoured department store. Founded in August 1952, it is the oldest and largest department store in China. As the substantial shareholder of Nanjing Cenbest, Sanpower Group has already become a large modern conglomerate in a short history of two decades. Characterised by informationisation and focusing on the modern service industry, it combines various large sectors into one, including Finance & Investment, Retail & Trade, Culture & Media, Health & Aged Care and Information Services. By 2013, its total assets have reached RMB 50 billion and the gross annual sales are over RMB 60 billion. The Group is ranked 205th among China’s Top 500 Enterprises and 24th among China’s Top 500 Private Enterprises. This acquisition is of great significance for both House of Fraser and Nanjing Cenbest. In the first place, Nanjing Cenbest will take advantage of its own market channels and influence to facilitate House of Fraser to enter Chinese market; meanwhile, its understanding and knowledge of Asian Market will also help House of Fraser further improve the supply chain of house brands and reduce the production cost. In addition, it will bring more investment into House of Fraser to support its future development.  The success of this acquisition will for sure have significant synergic effect between these two excellent and time-honoured department store enterprises of Britain and China and allow both parties to enjoy mutual benefits and a win-win development.”

After the signing ceremony, Chairman Yuan Yafei showed gratitude to all the shareholders and senior executives of House of Fraser, Huatai United Securities, BofA-Merrill, as well as all the front-line negotiators, and appreciated their concessions, help and efforts during the negotiations.  Furthermore, the Chairman expressed,“My special thanks also go to China Securities Regulatory Commission. The acquisition of House of Fraser by Nanjing Cenbest is the first cross-border M&A case without the requirement of pre-approval. This ceremony would be postponed much longer if they hadn’t introduced the decentralisation policies.”