What: Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is reportedly in talks on a deal as the Weston family that currently own Selfridges seeks to offload the business for around GBP 4 billion.

Why it is important: Could London's two top luxury department stores end up with the same owner? That's the question being asked as it has emerged that the owner of Harrods is possibly front-runner to buy up-for-sale Selfridges.

City sources told the Mail that the Harrods owner is the lead suitor. The fund, which bought Harrods for GBP 1.5 billion in 2010 is also owner of Paris-based retailer Printemps, for which it paid EUR 1.75 billion in 2013.

Canada's Hudson’s Bay Company and Hong Kong's Lane Crawford are also eyeing Selfridges, as is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. None of the parties involved have commented so far, however.

Selfridges has struggled during the pandemic because of its city centre locations seeing very little footfall and because tourists have been thin on the ground until very recently. The Weston family launched an auction for the company back in the summer. It's currently unclear whether any sale would also include the department stores that the business owns in other countries, including Holt Renfrew in Canada, Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands.

Harrods' owner in talks to buy Selfridges