Part of a department store empire
KaDeWe gets new operator from Thailand
14.06.2024, 13:00
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KaDeWe, Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus are among the most exclusive department stores in the country – and with the collapse of the Benko empire they themselves became commodities. Now their operations are in Thai hands.
The business operations of the luxury department stores KaDeWe (Berlin), Oberpollinger (Munich) and Alsterhaus (Hamburg) are being sold to the Thai Central Group. A corresponding contract with the KaDeWe Group has been signed, according to information from the German Press Agency.
According to the information, the contract is still subject to antitrust issues, among other things. In addition, Central is now in talks with the landlords of the buildings in Munich and Hamburg about the rental conditions.
The Central Group had already bought the building from the insolvent Signa subsidiary Prime Selection. The company did not disclose the purchase price – according to “Handelsblatt” it is one billion euros. The purchase of the building is the “first important milestone in the rehabilitation and restructuring” of the KaDeWe Group into a sustainable, financially viable company, explained the Thai company.
The traditional building near Kurfürstendamm with around 60,000 square meters of retail space was used by the KaDeWe Group, as were the Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus buildings. The KaDeWe Group filed for bankruptcy in January in order to free itself from Signa’s “non-market” and “exorbitant” index rents, as the company explained at the time.
Purchase of “additional assets”
The Central Group has held the majority of the KaDeWe Group since 2015. It is now “in talks” with management and creditors about purchasing “further assets,” the Thai group announced. The Central Group is confident that it will reach an agreement – and thus initiate an orderly exit from insolvency.
The Central Group has been owned by the Chirathivat family for four generations. The company says it is one of the leading global retail groups with shopping centers, restaurants and real estate in Southeast Asia and Europe. In 2011, the Central Group began its expansion into Europe with the purchase of the Italian department store chain La Rinascente. In 2013, the company bought the Danish department store Illum, and in 2022 – together with Signa – the British department store chain Selfridges.