Old acquaintances are trying to restart Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof: as confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, a consortium consisting of the US investment company NRDC Equity Partners and Bernd Beetz wants to continue the department store chain. Beetz is investing via his asset management company BB Kapital. NRDC is backed by Canadian Richard Baker, who also holds a majority stake in Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). HBC had already invested in Kaufhof in 2015. In 2018, the merger with competitor Karstadt, owned by René Benko's Signa Group, was announced. Signa later took over HBC's shares in the merged group. Former Coty CEO Beetz, known in soccer circles as President of SV Waldhof Mannheim, was Chairman of the Kaufhof Supervisory Board from 2018 to 2019.

Insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus (BRL law firm) said that „intensive negotiations were held with two potential investors“. The consortium had impressed with a „viable economic concept and proven financial solidity“. If the creditors' meeting agrees, the power of authority over Galeria is expected to be transferred from the insolvency administrator to the new owners with Bernd Beetz as shareholder and chairman at the end of July. The management around CEO Olivier Van den Bossche is to remain in office.

The investor agreement envisages the takeover of „probably more than 70“ of the 92 stores. How many exactly will depend on what concessions the landlords are prepared to make. At present, „many rental agreements are still being negotiated jointly by the insolvency administrator and the Galeria management with the landlords“, according to a statement. In any case, the investor agreement will only come into effect if the Essen district court and the creditors' meeting approve the insolvency plan. This should be available by the end of April, with the creditors voting at the end of May.

Meanwhile, details of the strategic concept are not yet known. Investor Beetz only said: „We believe in the future of Galeria and have only one focus: the department store.“ NRDC partner Jack Baker described Galeria as „an iconic brand“. Jörg Funder, Professor of Corporate Management in Retail at Worms University of Applied Sciences, is skeptical. „I think 20 stores is a realistic figure,“ the news agency dpa quotes him. Anything more than that would be „a concession to the insolvency administrator in order to win the bid and continue operating the stores for a certain period of time.“

After two insolvencies under self-administration in 2020 and 2022, the current proceedings are the third restart for Galeria since the merger. The chain has shrunk accordingly. In fall 2018, Karstadt still had 79 department stores and 29 Karstadt Sports stores in Germany, while Galeria Kaufhof operated 98 stores in Germany and over 30 abroad. The current 12,800 Galeria employees will now have to make further savings in the store network as well as at the head office. The head office will be „adapted to the reduced department store size, with the aim of running Galeria like a medium-sized company“.

Meanwhile, in the Signa empire, which is also plagued by insolvency, the real estate companies Signa Development and Signa Prime Selection cleared another hurdle in the restructuring process on Wednesday. After the creditors approved a restructuring plan in March, the extraordinary general meetings of the two companies have now also voted in favor of this solution. Both companies have also appointed new members to their supervisory boards, and the boards are now to start appointing new board members.

The process of selling the assets through the trustee can begin as soon as the commercial court in Vienna gives the green light for the restructuring plan. According to the news agency Reuters, a decision is expected by the end of June. A sales period of three to five years is envisaged, with the proceeds being used to settle at least 30% of the claims. A bankruptcy with an emergency sale of the properties, which include the KaDeWe in Berlin, the „Goldenes Quartier“ shopping mall in Vienna and the Elbtower in Hamburg, has thus been averted.