Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is again in dire straits due to the corona pandemic economy.
Now the public prosecutor's office is also investigating senior employees.
The charge is serious.
The crisis-ridden retail group
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof
only left the insolvency proceedings last September.
But with the
corona pandemic
, the economic situation has deteriorated again.
The federal government considers the department store giant to be
indispensable
as a
crowd puller
in city centers and is
holding out the
prospect of a loan.
Update from January 28th, 4:57 p.m.
- The Essen public prosecutor's office is investigating the department store chain
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof
(
GKK
) on suspicion of
delaying
bankruptcy.
The investigation was "at the very beginning," said a spokeswoman for the agency on Thursday.
Apparently, several senior employees are targeted.
The initial suspicion has by no means been confirmed.
At the beginning of April 2020,
GKK
filed for insolvency under self-administration.
According to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the investigators are investigating the allegation that
GKK
should have been insolvent in January 2020 and not until March 2020.
The spokeswoman did not want to comment on this.
She added that the investigation was based on a criminal complaint from a private person.
This is unusual - in the vast majority of cases, proceedings are officially initiated on suspicion of delaying bankruptcy.
Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof: Federal government promises million-dollar loans
The federal government decided on Wednesday evening to support
GKK
with a loan of up to 460 million euros.
The remaining 131 department stores of the group, which was hard hit by the Corona crisis, are considered indispensable crowd pullers in many pedestrian zones.
With this support, the federal government is making an important contribution to safeguarding jobs and bridging the current difficult situation for the company, it was said in Berlin.
However, the loan is tied to extensive conditions.
GKK
has not yet announced whether it wants to use the support.
The department store chain is owned by billionaire
René Benko's
Signa Holding
.
The Austrian is said to have supported the department store chain with a three-digit million amount last year.
(AFP / utz)
After Tui and Lufthansa: Merkel's government wants to support the next group
First report from January 27, 7:32 p.m.
- The federal government wants to support the
ailing
department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof,
according to information from the German press agency.
This involves a stabilization measure in the form of a loan of up to
460 million euros
, as the Committee of the Economic
Stabilization Fund
decided on Wednesday.
The offer of help is now before the company for a decision.
Representatives of several ministries sit on the committee.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Finance
* had previously
agreed
on the
stabilization
measure, as it was said.
Specifically, it is about a so-called subordinated loan.
The aid measure is
linked
to
extensive requirements and legal requirements
.
Merkel's government steps in: This is how jobs at Galeria Kaufhof are to be secured
The
Federal Government
*
wants to make an important contribution with the support
to secure jobs
and to bridge the current difficult situation for the company.
From their point of view, department stores also have an important anchor function for the
stabilization of inner cities as
a whole.
Angela Merkel's
* government founded the
Economic
Stabilization
Fund
(WSF) in March 2020
to support large companies with guarantees and capital aid
during the
Corona crisis
and to preserve jobs.
For example, a billion dollar
rescue package for Lufthansa
and
aid for the travel company Tui have
already been agreed
.
Corona crisis in Germany threatens to drive Galeria Kaufhof into ruin
The Corona crisis had hit the already ailing department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof hard.
During the
first lockdown in April of
last year
, the group had to seek rescue in a protective shield procedure.
Only at the end of September did he complete the bankruptcy proceedings.
It was supposed to
enable
the last remaining German department store group to make
a new start
by
closing more than 40 branches
,
cutting around 4,000 jobs
and canceling more than two billion euros in debt.
Group boss Miguel Müllenbach
wrote in a letter to the employees at the time that Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof was back on the field and would turn the table of successful retailers upside down in the coming weeks and months.
Corona lockdown in Germany: Galeria Kaufhof as an important factor for city centers
But the
second lockdown
probably thwarted the plan.
The group itself is keeping a low profile when it comes to the current situation.
But the GKK general works council chairman Jürgen Ettl only warned a few days ago in an interview with the “Lebensmittel Zeitung”: “
Currently the fixed costs are consuming the reserves
.
It's easy to calculate
how long we would survive a lockdown. "
The trading giant still has almost
130 department stores
.
In many inner cities they are considered
indispensable crowd pullers
, the closing of which would also make many surrounding shops difficult.
In the video: Not only the German department store is facing problems - many companies are fighting the Corona crisis
Many other companies in Germany are also suffering massively from the economic effects of the Corona crisis.
(dpa) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen digital network.
