Further to the announcement of 12th April, Don McCarthy, retiring executive chairman of House of Fraser, today announced the completion of the sale of 100% of the shares of House of Fraser to Nanjing Cenbest, a chain of Chinese department stores, for an enterprise value of approximately £480m.

Yuan Yafei, chairman of Sanpower Group, the largest shareholder of Nanjing Cenbest, comments: “We are delighted to have completed the purchase of House of Fraser today. It is an unprecedented transaction and the largest acquisition of a foreign retailer by a Chinese listed company.

"We are excited to tap the significant opportunities that House of Fraser has in China, where the brand has very strong growth potential. We are looking forward to bringing international brands to China through House of Fraser, providing Chinese consumers with premium fashion products. We are extremely confident House of Fraser will become a leading global department store and will serve as a bridge for premium brands between China and Europe.”

Don McCarthy comments: “The acquisition by Nanjing Cenbest will move House of Fraser to the next stage of its development as a leading international, multichannel retail group with a premium fashion offering. Since we took the company private in 2006, John King and his team have done an exceptional job of modernising the business model and growing sales to new record levels.”

A remaining shareholding of approximately 11% of House of Fraser is currently held by tycoon Mike Ashley's West Coast Capital (Hofco), a subsidiary of the Sports Direct Group.

 (If you want to read more about House of Fraser, please click www.houseoffraser.co.uk)