All branches of the department store group KaDeWe Group will be owned by Thai investment company Central Group. This news was announced by German news agency DPA. After acquiring Berlin department store KaDeWe, Central Group is now also acquiring Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in Munich.
A few months ago, Central Group acquired Berlin's KaDeWe from Signa Holding, which had shortly before been declared bankrupt. This acquisition, involving around €1 billion, did not originally include the Hamburg and Munich branches. Now the Thai investor also has these department stores in its portfolio, joining Alsterhaus and Oberpollinger with other luxury department stores such as Bijenkorf.
Earlier this year, the department store group was declared bankrupt due to "exorbitantly high rents" charged by Signa Holding for the shop properties. According to the receivers, this made it impossible to be sustainably profitable.
An investigation into the bankruptcy of KaDeWe and the role of Signa Holding is currently ongoing in Germany. The Berlin prosecutor's office is investigating allegations of subsidy fraud and breach of trust against Signa Group and owner René Benko. Around the bankruptcy process, the company is alleged to have committed unlawful acts.
These developments mark a major expansion for Central Group in the European luxury market, while at the same time creating legal and financial complexities surrounding the former owners of KaDeWe Group.
Source: RetailTrends