Department store group Galeria receives further state aid

Created: 01/25/2022, 18:59

The logo of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH.

© Boris Roessler/dpa/archive image

Germany's last major department store chain, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, is receiving further state aid in the hundreds of millions to deal with the Corona crisis.

According to dpa information, the retail giant is to receive silent participations of 250 million euros from the Federal Economic Stabilization Fund, of which 220 million euros are liquid funds.

Essen/Berlin – The editorial network Germany (RND) had previously reported on it.

“Two years of the pandemic are a particular burden, especially for inner cities.

Stationary trade in particular is struggling with the restrictions, ”said Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) to the RND.

"We have therefore decided that the economic stabilization fund will once again provide support to Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof."

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The German Retail Association (HDE) welcomed the planned cash injection for the department store chain.

"The department stores of Galeria are definitely systemically important for many inner cities, which also attract many customers to the neighboring retail trade," said HDE General Manager Stefan Genth.

It is the second time that the retail giant, which was created by the merger of the traditional companies Karstadt and Kaufhof, has had to resort to state aid during the pandemic.

At the beginning of 2021, the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) helped the department store group with a loan of 460 million euros.

The group justified the application for additional funds with the new corona restrictions in retail introduced in December - in particular the 2G rule.

For the group, this was tantamount to a “quasi lockdown in the middle of the Christmas business”, complained Galeria CFO Guido Mager at the time.

dpa