The future of the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is saved for the time being. On Monday, creditors agreed on a multi-billion dollar haircut that will allow the company to continue in a slimmed-down form.
However, almost 50 branches will be closed. The company wants to modernize the other 80 or so stores and focus more on online trading than before.
According to information from Business Insider, the federal government alone is writing off around 590 of its 680 million euros (250 million euros as a silent contribution and 430 million euros as a loan) from state aid. Only a loan of almost 90 million euros remains repayable, as we reported exclusively on Saturday.
In a statement from the company on Monday afternoon, the future of the department store chain was as follows: “Galeria will be characterized by focusing on promising locations and sensible areas, rapid conversion of all branches in three years, investments and digitization and the IT process landscape, both efficient and fast Process flows, more shop in shop, additional offers and, in particular, greater localization with more responsibility in the regions”.
The insolvency proceedings are to be completed in the course of the first half of 2023, according to the announcement.