Hamleys owner eyeing slice of House of Fraser

The parent company of Hamleys has entered into discussions to acquire a stake in Jenners owner House of Fraser.

C Banner International Holdings, which bought Hamleys in 2015, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nanjing Xinjiekou department store, a company affiliated with House of Fraser’s owner Sanpower.

The Chinese firms signed the pact in Hong Kong yesterday, according to the Press Associ- ation, which said talks are still at an early stage.

Shanghai-listed Nanjing owns an 89 per cent stake in the embattled department store, and is a subsidiary of Sanpower, a Chinese conglomerate chaired by billionaire Yuan Yafei. The remaining 11 per cent is owned by Sports Direct entrepreneur Mike Ashley.

House of Fraser, which was founded in Glasgow in 1849, has enlisted advisers at KPMG to look at a possible restructuring that could involve store closures.