A consortium led by investors Richard Baker and Bernd Beetz is apparently set to win the contract for the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Both have a lot of experience in the industry.
According to media reports, a consortium made up of the US investment company NRDC Equity Partners and the entrepreneur Bernd Beetz is to take over the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Appropriate Information from the “Handelsblatt” were confirmed by negotiating circles to the news agencies dpa and Reuters.
Already signed the contract today?
A spokesman for the insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus did not want to comment on this when asked. Denkhaus had recently finalized negotiations with two bidders about the sale.
According to “Handelsblatt”, the insolvency administrator is said to have informed the creditors’ committee on Monday that NRDC and Beetz should be awarded the contract. The contracts should therefore be signed today. The creditors’ meeting would then have to approve the deal. The final decision would then be made in May.
At the beginning of January, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof slipped into bankruptcy for the third time in just over three years. Bankruptcy proceedings were opened earlier this month.
Owner before the merger with Karstadt
NRDC is owned by entrepreneur Richard Baker. The 58-year-old also has a majority stake in the department store companies Hudson’s 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.
Bernd Beetz is president of the third division soccer team SV Waldhof Mannheim. He was previously head of the cosmetics company Coty and chairman of the supervisory board of Kaufhof from 2018 to 2019.