House of Fraser's Chinese Owner Hires Weiss to Lead Overseas M&A

LONDON, United Kingdom — Sanpower Group, the Chinese owner of Britain's House of Fraser department store chain, hired former Sailing Capital Management Co. managing director Michael Weiss to head its overseas dealmaking.

Weiss, who left Sailing Capital earlier this year, has joined Sanpower as a vice president in the investment department, Joseph Hua, a spokesman for the company, said in an e-mailed response to Bloomberg queries. The former banker will oversee the Nanjing-based firm’s cross-border mergers and acquisitions, Hua said.

Sailing Capital is a private equity firm specialised in overseas investments that was set up by state-owned Shanghai International Group. Before joining the buyout firm in 2013 as a Hong Kong-based partner, Weiss had worked as the head of Morgan Stanley’s China mergers advisory unit. He has also held investment banking positions at Credit Suisse Group AG and Citigroup Inc.

A spokeswoman for Sailing Capital declined to comment.

While Weiss was at Sailing, the private equity firm teamed with Sanpower in a $174 million purchase of Brookstone Inc., the US luxury-gadget retailer that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Sanpower bought House of Fraser in 2014.

By Vinicy Chan and Jonathan Browning; editors: Ben Scent and Timothy Sifert.