Selfridges sold as part of £4bn deal

Deal with Thai and Austrian firms includes the four UK stores and raises hopes for Oxford Street redevelopment

The family owners of Selfridges have sold out to a Thai retailer and an Austrian property company for an estimated 4bn ($5.36bn) in a deal which sees the return of the luxury department store's former boss Vittorio Radice.

Thailand's Central Group and Austrian real estate company Signa Holding already jointly own major department stores in Italy, Germany and Denmark via a division run by Radice, who left Selfridges in 2002, the year before Canada's Weston family bought it for 628m.