- The KaDeWe Group with the luxury department stores KaDeWe in Berlin, Oberpollinger in Munich and Alsterhaus in Hamburg has filed for bankruptcy.
- The department stores will continue to operate, the company said.
- This move emerged after several media houses speculated about it. An application was made for insolvency proceedings under self-administration.
The trading company emphasized that the rents at the three locations in particular are putting a strain on business. They made “sustainable, profitable economic activity almost impossible,” it was said. The Lamarr department store on Vienna’s Mariahilfer Strasse, which is still under construction, is also part of the bankruptcy.
Companies that have good prospects of continuing business operations usually apply for insolvency under self-administration rather than with the help of an insolvency administrator. It is a variant of insolvency law that aims to restructure a company instead of winding it up.
Signa invested in KaDeWe Group
The insolvency of the trading company The KaDeWe Group GmbH followed a few weeks after the Signa company network of the Austrian investor René Benko got into trouble. Signa holds a stake in the KaDeWe Group.
50.1 percent of the KaDeWe Group belongs to the Central Group of the Thai family Chirathivat and 49.9 percent to Signa Retail, based in Switzerland, which also includes Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Signa Retail announced at the end of November that it would wind up its business in an orderly manner. Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof filed for insolvency proceedings three weeks ago.