State wants to save Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof: Expert doubts legitimacy - "Hardly a chance"

The federal government wants to save Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof with a cash injection - but one expert is skeptical whether the money will ever be paid back.

There is also a suspicion.

• Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof

  is plagued by financial hardship - and could now

  receive

  public funding

  .

• The

  federal government

  would like to support the traditional department store chain with a loan.

• But there is

  criticism

  : would the state ever see the money again?

  Meanwhile, the

  group is being

  investigated.

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Berlin / Munich - The topic of

Corona economic

aid for companies in crisis is polarizing.

Is financial support from the state justified if a previously tried and tested business model is supposedly threatened with extinction?

Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof

has a traditional background - but problems for a long time.

Last but not least, the department store chain is also troubled by developments in the

digital age

; the merger of

Galeria Kaufhof

and

Karstadt

has apparently not really improved the situation.

Due to

Corona

, the situation worsened in 2020: Over 100 branches of

GKK

in pedestrian zones in Germany were well-attended department stores, but these times are over due to the lockdown measures *.

The

federal government

would like to support

Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof

with an enormous sum of 460 million euros, the economic stabilization fund has already given the "green light".

Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof: Mega loan for a troubled group?

"Hardly any chance of repayment"

Berlin

would like to

help

the company, which is owned by the Austrian

Signa Holding

, to secure jobs and to overcome the difficult situation.

The

financial aid offered

by the

federal government

*

is a

loan

that is subject to certain conditions

.

However, it is not yet clear whether the department store group, whose future has been on the brink for a long time, will make use of the support.

+

Tug of war for Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof am Stachus.

The department store chain is being investigated for delaying bankruptcy.

© IMAGO / Sven Simon

However, the chairman of the Monopolies Commission, an advisory body to the

coalition in Berlin *

, is critical of state support and doubts that a rescue operation is not shaped by sustainability: “The rather less good” prospects of the company against the background of

slow digitization are

“problematic “, Judges Jürgen Kühling to the

world

.

For taxpayers, the fact that it is only a

subordinated loan is

critical

.

As Kühling explains, there is "little chance of repayment in the event of bankruptcy".

Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof: Corona is troubling the chain - Was there a delay in bankruptcy?

And there is another problem: the

Essen public prosecutor's office is

investigating Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof for

delaying bankruptcy

.

However, the initial suspicion has not yet been confirmed, announced a judge spokeswoman.

GKK had

filed for insolvency

in self-administration

in April of last year

.

The investigators are investigating the allegation that

GKK

should not

have been

insolvent

until March 2020, but earlier

.

The unusual thing

about

this

investigation

- it is based on a criminal complaint from a private person and not as usual ex officio.

(PF with AFP / dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from the Ippen Digital Network

List of rubric lists: © IMAGO / Sven Simon