The financially troubled department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is closing 16 of its 92 stores on August 31 this year. This was announced by insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus on Saturday.
The department store group filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of January. It is the third bankruptcy within three and a half years. At the time, Van den Bossche cited, among other things, the bankruptcies as the reason for the difficult situation Signa Group of the previous owner René Benko.
Three houses each are particularly hard hit by closures
- Berlin (Ringcenter, Spandau, Tempelhof),
- North Rhine-Westphalia (Essen, Cologne Breite Straße, Wesel) and
- Bayern (Augsburg, Regensburg Neupfarrplatz, Würzburg).
In addition, these department stores of the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof Group are to close:
- Chemnitz,
- Leonberg,
- Mainz,
- Mannheim,
- Oldenburg,
- Potsdam,
- Trier Meat Street.
Of the approximately 12,800 people the company employs, 11,400 should keep their jobs. 1,400 will have to go. According to Galeria, a reconciliation of interests and a social plan were concluded with the general works council on Friday.
“We will do everything we can to lead our business into a successful future. We see good conditions for this, not least due to our sales development in the current financial year,” said Galeria Chef Olivier Van den Bossche. The company’s headquarters are to move from Essen to the Düsseldorf Schadowstrasse branch.
Whoever takes over the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain after Benko
It has been known since the beginning of April that a consortium made up of the US investment company NRDC and entrepreneur Bernd Beetz’s company BB Kapital SA wants to take over the department store chain.
However, the agreement concluded between investors and Galeria will only come into effect if the creditors agree. Insolvency administrator Denkhaus wants to present the insolvency plan for the change of ownership by the end of April.
The plan will not be legally binding until the creditors’ meeting approves it on May 28 and it is then reconfirmed by the court. Denkhaus wants to hand over the company to the new owners by the end of July.