Department store Selfridges is set to be sold to Thailand's Central Group in a deal worth around £4bn, according to reports.
The Weston family have been searching for a buyer since the summer for the chain which was founded in 1908 by Harry Selfridge.
The chain's flagship store is located in Oxford Street, London, and opened on 15 March 1909.
READ MORE: Halfords agrees to acquire National Tyres group for £62m
Other stores opened in Manchester's Trafford Centre in 1998 and Exchange Square four years later and in the Bullring in Birmingham in 2003. There are also branches in Dublin, the Netherlands and Canada.
The company was taken over in a £598m move by Canadian billionaire Galen Weston in 2003.
According to the Times, which first reported the deal, the process could drag on until the end of the year but terms were agreed in the last few days, the PA news agency said.
The family also have a large stake in Primark.
Central Group is a family-owned conglomerate that started in Bangkok but went global when the founder's son, Samrit Chirathivat, opened Thailand's first department store in 1956.
It now has 3,700 shops around the world, from supermarkets to electronics outlets, and department stores in Europe.
Central Group's non-executive director Vittorio Radice ran Selfridges between 1996 and 2003 and has been managing a department store in Italy since 2006.
His role includes responsibility for expansions in Europe.
The Weston family launched the sales process in June, a few months after the death of Galen Weston, who oversaw the move to take the department store private in 2003.
The family control Selfridges through Wittington Investments Ltd in Canada, which is separate from the UK arm that owns a large stake in Primark owner Associated British Foods.
Selfridges declined to comment.
