A pair of bidders has apparently won the race to take over Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. The two have had dealings with the department store chain in the past.
A consortium made up of the US investment company NRDC Equity Partners and the entrepreneur Bernd Beetz wants to take over the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. The German Press Agency learned this from negotiating circles on Tuesday. The “Handelsblatt” had previously reported.
Neither the spokesman for the insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus nor a spokesman for the company wanted to comment on this when asked.
The administrator of Galeria had recently finalized negotiations with two bidders about the sale. According to the report, Denkhaus is said to have informed the creditors’ committee on Monday that NRDC and Beetz should be awarded the contract. The contracts are scheduled to be signed on Tuesday. Denkhaus wants to present the buyer publicly on Wednesday. The creditors’ meeting then makes the final decision on the takeover.
NRDC is owned by Canadian entrepreneur Richard Baker. The 58-year-old also has a majority stake in the department store companies Hudson Bay Company (HBC) and Saks Fifth Avenue. Through HBC, he was the owner of Galeria Kaufhof between 2015 and 2019 before the department store chain was sold to the Signa Group and merged with Karstadt.
Beetz is president of the third division soccer team SV Waldhof Mannheim. From 2018 to 2019 he was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kaufhof.
Denkhaus announced at the end of March that final negotiations would be held with two bidders. “Both interested parties have extensive experience in German retail and also have the funds required for the upcoming investment,” says Denkhaus. He did not name the possible investors.
The final decision on a takeover by a new owner is made by the meeting of creditors. According to the announcement, this will meet on May 28th at Messe Essen to vote on the insolvency plan drawn up by Denkhaus. It is still unclear how many of the 92 branches (including eight in Berlin and one in Potsdam) will remain. According to Denkhaus, it will involve taking over at least “60 plus X” branches. “We don’t yet know how big this X is,” said the insolvency administrator.
The general manager of the Berlin-Brandenburg trade association, Nils Busch-Petersen, made a similar statement. He said on rbb24 Inforadio on Tuesday that he expected a third of the 92 Galeria locations to date to be closed. In the end, around 60 branches nationwide would probably remain at consolidated locations, with Berlin definitely being one of them. I hope that the two possible investors have experience in the difficult German market.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, April 9, 2024, 9 a.m