2024-08-29 07:33:35
According to a media report, the Breuninger department store chain could soon be in new hands. Interest in the company is high, with 31 potential buyers already lining up.
The Breuninger department store chain, with stores in Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig, among others, is for sale. As the “Wirtschaftswoche” reported on Wednesday, the family behind the group wants to sell both the retail business and the real estate. 31 companies have expressed interest. The first offers should be available by October.
According to the report, the sales process was already started in June, and the company did not comment on the process when asked by “Wirtschaftswoche”. After deducting existing debts, Breuninger could cost a total of around two billion euros, of which the real estate accounts for the majority of the sum at 1.8 billion euros, the newspaper reported, citing negotiating circles.
According to a list by the investment bank MacQuarie, 31 of the interested parties want to buy only the buildings, others are only interested in the department store operation, and still others are also interested in the entire package.
According to “Wirtschaftswoche”, the candidates for the retail business include the Spanish department store chain El Corte Inglés and the French chain Galeries Lafayette. Various institutional investors, such as the Frankfurt-based fund companies Deka, DWS and Union Investment, are interested in the properties.
According to the report, the Thai Central Group and the US entrepreneur Richard Baker could imagine buying the entire group. In the spring, Baker also took over the insolvent department store chain Galeria Kaufhof together with a consortium.
Breuninger operates 13 department stores, twelve in Germany and one in Luxembourg, as well as an online shop in ten countries. The chain employs 6,500 people. Last year, the group achieved sales of around 1.5 billion euros.
Breuninger has been around for over 140 years: In 1881, Eduard Breuninger opened his first store on Stuttgart’s Münzstraße, followed by a second one in 1908.