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The former competitors of downtown Düsseldorf.(Photo: imago / Marianne Müller)
Friday, November 9, 2018
Karstadt is considered the last rescue of competitor Kaufhof. The merger of the two German veterans of department stores was still anti-competitive. They now seem scattered.
The Bundeskartellamt raises no objection to the proposed merger of Karstadt and Kaufhof. As reported by the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", citing business circles, the authority wants to grant Friday their release for the merger of two department stores. There should be no editing. Contrary to expectations, according to "FAZ", the Cartel Office does not wish to add a second phase of in-depth examination.
As the "FAZ" states, connoisseurs expect a merger of companies at the end of the month – and therefore in time for the Christmas market.
The owners of Karstadt and Kaufhof, the Austrian Signa Holding and the Canadian trading group HBC, announced on September 11 that they were going to merge the two chains of department stores. The Karstadt Dam, Signa, would hold a 50.01% share in the new joint venture, HBC 49.99%.
On October 9, Signa and HBC announced the proposed merger with the Federal Cartel Office. The agency had one month to review but could extend it by three months. Signa's boss, Rene Benko, told the "Handelsblatt" that the merger was "the rescue of the company" Kaufhof. The chain was "in a state as alarming as 2014 Karstadt". At that time Benko had taken over Karstadt.
The Verdi union opposed the merger of department store chains and called on owners not to cut jobs. It is feared that, as part of the merger at Kaufhof, about 5,000 jobs out of about 20,000 will disappear.
Source: n-tv.de
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