Secretive Chinese billionaire trying to buy House of Fraser

A SECRETIVE Chinese billionaire who has never owned a British business or run a shop can be unmasked by the Mail as the potential owner of House of Fraser.

Ji Changqun, 50, a Chinese businessman (pictured) who is worth more than Donald Trump, is the chairman of a controversial investment group, Fullshare Holdings, which is trying to seize control of the department store.

His firm has been accused of manipulating its share price after questions were raised about a number of deals which saw its value rise by more than 1,500pc.

Earlier this week, Chinese rival Sanpower, which owns 169-yearold House of Fraser, revealed it was planning to sell 51pc of its 89pc stake to a leisure firm known as Wuji Wenhua – or Five Seasons Xiv – which is part of Ji’s fastexpanding empire.

Few details have been revealed about what this would mean for the future of House of Fraser, which has been hit by the slowdown on the High Street.

The announcement prompted fears for thousands of jobs, with the lack of transparency in the deal reminiscent of BHS’s sale in 2015 to Dominic Chappell’s Retail Acquisitions, at the time an unknown business.

House of Fraser has 59 stores in the UK and Ireland and employs 4,900. The department store chain was founded in 1849 in Glasgow as Arthur And Fraser, a small shop selling textiles. In 1948 the co-founder’s son, Hugh Fraser III, listed the company on the London Stock Exchange.

House of Fraser fell out of family ownership in 1981 when marketing guru Professor Roland Smith took over as chairman. Since then the retailer has changed ownership numerous times.

Five Seasons Xiv is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Fullshare Holdings which invests mostly in holiday resorts and healthcare. The company, which was created following a reverse takeover in 2016, is based in Nanjing in east China. Ji, who is worth an estimated £3.9bn, became chairman and chief executive after the merger and has more than 25 years in the infrastructure industry.

But last year Fullshare had to suspend trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange when a report accused it of manipulating its share price. Compiled by US short-sellers Glaucus Research, the report claimed the reverse takeover of Fullshare was ‘one of the largest stock manipulation schemes trading on any exchange anywhere in the world’. It highlighted how the company’s share price had grown by 1,578pc since Ji took the reins without producing profits to match.

Sanpower chairman Yuan Yafei said: ‘Wuji [Five Seasons Xiv] and I are very close, strategic partners. We will support House of Fraser collectively.’