faq
Following the insolvency of the Signa Group, a sale of the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department stores is on the cards. Is a sale even realistic? Who might be interested in the houses?
The Galeria department stores belong to the Signa Retail Selection. What role does this play in René Benko’s company network?
Signa Retail Selection is the Swiss subsidiary of the insolvent Austrian Signa Holding. The Benko Group has brought together its retail holdings here. This also includes the operational business of the Galeria department store chain in Germany and the Globus department stores in Switzerland.
The Signa Retail Selection has application for Estate deferment placed. What does this mean and what are the consequences of the application?
With the application for a moratorium, which Signa Retail Selection submitted to the Zurich civil court on Wednesday evening, the Swiss subsidiary’s business will be decoupled from the Austrian parent company. It had filed for bankruptcy in Vienna just half a day earlier. With a debt moratorium, a company can avoid bankruptcy and instead take restructuring measures; partial debt relief is also possible. Signa Retail Selection’s business should now be carried out in an orderly manner.
Why is Signa Retail Selection taking this step?
It is primarily an attempt to keep the department stores out of the maelstrom of Austrian insolvency proceedings. “This step enables the board of directors and management, in collaboration with the administrator, to handle the business in an orderly and transparent manner on their own responsibility and independently of the insolvencies of the rest of the Signa Group,” explained Christian Wenger, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Signa Retail Selection AG. The holdings are now to be sold individually in the estate proceedings.
What does this mean for Galeria – who wanted to step in as a buyer?
The board of directors of Signa Retail Selection AG is now likely to plan to sell the German department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. But a sale requires a new, financially strong investor, which experts say will be difficult to find. It is also questionable whether such an investor would express interest in all locations. Commercial expert Gerrit Heinemann from Niederrhein University is convinced that a takeover makes no sense from a business perspective. Johannes Berentzen, head of the BBE trading consultancy, is also skeptical: “In today’s market and interest rate situation, there is hardly any chance of finding a buyer.”
Is Thailand’s Central Group a potential buyer?
The Central Group is already closely linked to Signa Retail Selection AG, as they have together formed the European Luxury Department Store Group. They own half of the Swiss Globus department stores, but also the KaDeWe Group in Germany and Selfridges in Great Britain and Ireland. The very rich Thai Chirathivat family is behind the Central Group. There should be no shortage of money to buy Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof; However, Central Group has not yet expressed any interest in this. After all, experts can imagine that the Thais could take over individual Galeria locations in large cities. In addition, the Central Group had recently reaffirmed its commitment to the luxury department store business in Europe several times and stated that it could step in – alone or with a partner. At least for the Signa share held by Globus, KaDeWe and Selfridges, a potential buyer should already be in the starting blocks.
How urgent is time at Galeria?
The 90 million euro mark is considered critical – in the opinion of the supervisory board, the department store chain’s liquidity must not fall below this under any circumstances. In the short term, the Christmas business is likely to provide liquidity. Gerrit Heinemann, trade expert from the Niederrhein University, said in the daily topics, However, he assumes that by the beginning of next year at the latest, probably in February, “things will look very bleak for the company.”
Why could things be tight for the department store chain in the new year?
Signa Holding had actually already guaranteed the German subsidiary 200 million euros for the renovation in 2024; the first 50 million euros were supposed to flow in February. But whether anything will come of this after Signa Holding’s bankruptcy filing is more than questionable. In addition, new goods have to be ordered after the Christmas business.
However, Galeria could gain some financial breathing room by stopping rent payments for its department store properties to Signa Holding from January onwards – which, according to experts, are already completely excessive. Only one thing is certain: the future of Germany’s largest department store group, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, and its approximately 10,000 employees is more uncertain than ever.