State-owned enterprise China Tourism Group Duty Free (CTG Duty Free) is set to acquire luxury travel retailer DFS Group’s entire business in Macao and Hong Kong, alongside assorted intangible assets for exclusive use in the Greater China region. The significant deal for the Macao retail sector – reported by multiple news outlets – includes all seven of DFS’s outlets in the city, which are situated within Macao’s major casino-resorts.
The seven acquired Macao locations include leased spaces at the Shoppes at Londoner, Galaxy, MGM Cotai, MGM Macao, Wynn Palace, the Shoppes at Four Seasons, and Studio City.
According to a filing made by CTG Duty Free in Hong Kong, the acquisition price for the nine stores in Macao and Hong Kong will “not exceed” US$395 million. The deal is expected to be finalised within approximately two months. An appraisal of the seven Macao outlets, conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle, valued them at nearly 2.64 billion yuan (US$371.23 million) as of 30 September 2025, while the two Hong Kong stores were appraised at 495.98 million yuan (US$69.80 million).
The move comes as DFS, which is majority-owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) and co-founder Robert Miller, has faced financial headwinds. Filings show the combined Macao and Hong Kong retail operations recorded a net profit after tax of 965.15 million yuan in 2023, which then sharply dwindled to 127.56 million yuan in 2024. However, the business saw a year-on-year recovery in the first nine months of 2025, reaching a net profit of 133.40 million yuan.
For CTG Duty Free – already the largest travel retailer in China with a market share of seventy-nine percent – the acquisition is a key step in its global expansion. The company’s executive director and president, Luke Chang, stated that the acquisition will expand CTG Duty Free’s service network across the Greater Bay Area and help build a platform for promoting “China chic” brands worldwide.
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DFS Chairman and CEO Ed Brennan described the sale as an “important step,” noting that CTG Duty Free’s new skills and perspectives would enhance the established operational excellence of DFS in Macao and Hong Kong.
As a complementary transaction, LVMH and the Miller family will reinvest a portion of the sale proceeds by subscribing to newly issued H-shares in CTG Duty Free. This capital injection will result in the two shareholders collectively holding approximately 0.57 percent of the Chinese company’s total share capital.
Furthermore, LVMH and CTG Duty Free have entered into a strategic cooperation agreement in the retail sector, covering areas like product sales, store establishment, and brand promotion in Greater China.
The sale of the Greater China business is the latest in a series of global disposals for DFS Group, a company founded in 1960. The retailer is also closing operations in Guam after fifty years and is exiting the Hawaiian market after sixty-three years. In addition, DFS has cancelled its large-scale shopping and entertainment infrastructure project in Yalong Bay in Hainan, a popular duty-free province.
The company has also withdrawn from or closed locations in Saipan, New Zealand, Australia, and Venice, while LVMH has shifted DFS’s prestigious Paris location, La Samaritaine, into a new governance structure outside the group’s direct control.
