According to a media report, US entrepreneur Richard Baker is one of two remaining bidders for Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. He already owned part of the insolvent department store chain.
Who will take over the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof? According to a media report, the family office of US businessman Richard Baker (NRDC) is one of the two remaining bidders. NDRC wants to make a binding offer on Monday, reports “WirtschaftsWoche”, citing several people familiar with the matter. “We do not comment on the bidding process,” said a spokesman for insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus.
Richard Baker is no stranger to Galeria. Before the merger with Karstadt, he had already been the owner of Galeria Kaufhof for several years through the Canadian retail chain Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), which was part of his portfolio. However, HBC sold the chain to the Signa Group of Tyrolean investor René Benko, who ultimately merged the department store groups to form Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof.
Two remaining bidders “with experience”
Until recently, it was unclear whether there would be any regulated insolvency proceedings at the group. However, on Easter Monday, the Essen district court opened the standard insolvency proceedings, according to a statement from the court. Galeria is now in its third insolvency proceedings. Discussions with possible new owners had already been held beforehand.
The lawyer Denkhaus, who was appointed as insolvency administrator and was previously only appointed as a provisional administrator, reported four binding purchase offers at the end of March. The company now wants to finally negotiate a takeover with two bidders “with experience in German retail”. Denkhaus said he wanted to seal the contracts with one of the bidders in April.
It’s about thousands of employees
At the beginning of January, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof slipped into bankruptcy for the third time in just over three years. The imbalance is the result of the bankruptcy of Benko’s Signa empire, to which Galeria belonged. Some of the department store properties are also part of an insolvent Signa company. Galeria boss Olivier van den Bossche and Denkhaus want to maintain the group, which currently has around 12,800 employees. There are currently 92 branches of the department store chain.