The billionaire Weston family is kicking off a formal auction of Selfridges to flush out a buyer for the department stores business.
It is understood that advisers at Credit Suisse will start to send out information memoranda — documents that pitch a business to prospective buyers and that include its strengths, competitive advantages and latest financial details — imminently amid hopes that a deal could be completed by the end of the year.
Sources said that two or three suitors had expressed interest already, but that no formal bid had been made. The Westons have put a price tag of at least £4 billion on the Selfridges business which has 25 stores worldwide, including its Oxford Street store in London, the Bullring shop in Birmingham,
