As London prime real estate goes, even Selfridges hasn’t been able to hold its value as one of the capital’s key assets.

The value of Selfridges’ wider property portfolio was slashed by over 20% last year as its ownership changes hands for the second time in three years.

Accounts for Selfridges’ property holding company reveal that valuers marked down its £3.1 billion of property assets — which include its flagship store on London’s Oxford Street — by £638.6 million, a fall of 20.6%, reported The Times. 

The decline comes at a tough time as more than £1.7 billion of loans, set to mature next August, are secured against Selfridges’ freehold property.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) last week struck a deal to buy a 40% stake in Selfridges Group, which includes the signature department store group, as well as its department store chains De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.

PIF becomes a junior partner in Selfridges with the fund working with the retailer’s co-owner Thailand’s Central Group to buy out the heavily indebted partner Signa.
 
While accounts for Selfridges’ operating company have yet to be filed, its devalued property portfolio includes the London flagship, an adjacent building and the Selfridges store in Manchester’s Exchange Square.

A Selfridges spokesman told the newspaper that the writedowns were largely driven by “external market factors” such as interest rates and prevailing market rents.