Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is actively looking for a new owner. Interested parties should submit a detailed business concept for the department store chain. The schedule is ambitious.
What will happen to the ailing department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof (GKK)? A decision should be made soon, as the search for new investors has officially begun. As the company announced today, a structured investor process has been started with the approval of the provisional insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus and the provisional creditors’ committee. Experienced investment banks were brought in for this purpose.
“We primarily address potential investors who have an operational interest in Galeria. Our goal is to find a sustainable solution for the department stores that enables in-depth planning,” says Denkhaus.
Non-binding offers until March 8th
The planned schedule is ambitious. Interested parties are invited to submit a non-binding declaration of intent for a purchase with a detailed business concept by February 11th. In a second phase, non-binding offers should be made by March 8th at the latest.
The aim is to continue the company; discussions have already taken place. Denkhaus had recently stated that there were “more than two” interested parties.
bankruptcy “Liberation Strike”
Galeria only filed for insolvency at the Essen district court at the beginning of January. It is the third bankruptcy within three and a half years. The department store chain is bankrupt again as a result of the financial problems of the Austrian parent company Signa. Galeria currently operates 92 department stores with around 15,000 employees.
“Galeria’s operational success is burdened by the framework conditions of the old ownership structure. We explicitly see today as a liberation,” Galeria boss Oliver van den Bossche said at the beginning of January. The main problem here is “high rents and expensive services”. These severely limited future development opportunities, Bossche explained.
Insolvencies at the Signa Group
In recent months, several companies from the trading and real estate group of the Austrian entrepreneur René Benko have filed for bankruptcy, including Signa Retail Selection AG, to which GKK belongs. At the end of November it announced that it would wind up its business in an orderly manner, which would mean selling GKK.
Galeria had already gone through insolvency proceedings and received state aid from 2020 during the corona pandemic. In 2022 it needed further state aid, and a second insolvency procedure followed in 2023. In March 2023, the creditors’ meeting approved the insolvency plan. At the time, Signa had originally pledged 200 million euros for the renovation, which was to flow in several tranches until 2025.