New owners are expected to plan investments of up to 100 million euros

To eat. The new owners of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof want to invest up to 100 million euros over the next two to three years to modernize the remaining department store branches. The German news agency heard this from people in the immediate vicinity of the owners. Also the “Mirrorhad reported about it before.

As part of the insolvency proceedings, 16 of the 92 Galeria branches will close at the end of August. It has been known since the beginning of April that a consortium consisting of the American investment company NRDC and the investment company BB Kapital SA of entrepreneur Bernd Beetz wants to acquire Galeria. So far they have not commented on how much money they want to invest in Germany’s last major department store chain.

The previous Galeria owner, the Austrian entrepreneur René Benko, pledged 200 million euros last year for the renovation of Galeria, half of which as a loan. However, apart from one million euros in share capital, nothing flowed due to the difficulties of Benko’s Signa Group. As a result, Galeria ran into problems and filed for bankruptcy in early January. It is the third bankruptcy within three and a half years.

New concept aims to increase turnover

According to the Spiegel report, Galeria plans to concentrate its range in the future on the product categories of perfumes and cosmetics, women’s underwear, handbags, shoes and accessories. In addition, the new owner will focus on shopping on Sundays for the department stores. The proposal is that each house could open once a month, including on Sundays. In this way, Galeria can not only increase its own turnover, but also contribute to the revitalization of city centers.

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Retail expert Carsten Kortum sees a significant investment backlog at Galeria. Only ten department stores have been modernized so far. For the remaining 66, the investment requirement amounts to an average of 20 million euros per location, estimates the professor at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Heilbronn. In total, according to him, investments of more than a billion euros are needed in the company.

The takeover by NRDC and Beetz will only be completed if the creditors accept the bankruptcy plan on May 28 and this is subsequently reconfirmed by the responsible judge. The company is expected to be transferred to the new owners at the end of July.

RND/dpa/lau