Germany ,Karstadt: New owner, old problems

Investor Rene Benko / Bild: © WB MAYR Elke

On Thursday (09/11/2014) First Meeting of the new Supervisory Board of Karstadt department store chain under the new ownership René Benko. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung (10.09.2014) reports, citing internal circuits, the first cornerstone of the new restructuring plan could be presented here. Responsible distinguished according to the report Miguel waste stream that – the last in the group’s top remaining from the previous three top managers -. Consolidated provisional results since the departure of Eva-Lotta Sjöstedt

The Munich Oberpollinger one of the premium outlets

According to the newspaper is not to be expected that already a complete recovery plan
is presented. Originally, the Supervisory Board meeting had been planned for the end of July to take urgent decisions on the direction of the Group. The first postponement was the departure of manager Eva-Lotta Sjöstedt, the second change of ownership due: Surprisingly Nicolas Berggruen sold his shares in the Tyrolean entrepreneur Rene Benko and his company Signa Holding

A discussion point could now be the future direction of the Group. In an interview published in the Tagesspiegel says a member of the Supervisory Board, Arno Peukes, in advance of the meeting on the challenge to narrow down the target audience and “by demographic change benefit [to]” Here are mistakes in the past been made: Karstadt must not be at H & Measure M, “this Bunte. bird-thing “was too much.
 
Moving past

The department store chain Karstadt looks back on a more than 130-year history. Especially after the Second World War, the Karstadt department stores were in West Germany and a symbol of the economic miracle. In subsequent years, the chain expanded rapidly: She swallowed even the largest competitors Neckermann, Hertie and source

the beginning of the millennium, the company then ran into financial difficulties, struggling with losses and falling sales 2010 eventually bought by billionaire Nicolas Berggruen Karstadt for a symbolic euro from Arcandor and out of bankruptcy – and was first celebrated by politicians and unions as the savior
But Berggruen was unlucky.. Most recently, especially the staff were disappointed: Her hope, that he might be the right man to bring Karstadt back on track, was not redeemed

Berggruen took Eva-Lotta Sjöstedt to the tip – the. gave up after just five months in office, allegedly because of the Supervisory their staff friendly remediation course would not support.
 
Berggruen, then Benko

René Benko, founder of Signa Holding and Karstadt owner ,in mid-August eventually took over the Tyrolean René Benko control his financial group Signa Holding had since the end of 2013, the premium houses of the Karstadt Group:.. Hamburg Alster House, the Berlin KaDeWe and the Munich branch Oberpollinger Benko paid at that time for the luxury package 300 million euros

The tabloid Bild reported over the weekend that up to 30 of the 83 branches were threatened with closure. Yet according to the figure it will not be a final decision on a possible staff cuts on Thursday. For the remaining 17,000 Karstadt employees so goes the tremor probably still a while.

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