Benko before the mega merger in Germany

After the thriller around Kika / Leiner, René Benko finally wants to become the shopping mogul in Europe. Again and again, the Tyrolean had attempted a multi-billion dollar takeover of the still-defunct German chain Kaufhof. Now it should work with the merger of the department store giant Karstadt with its competitors, the cornerstones of a merger: René Benko is expected to get a little over half of the shares of the new shopping giant Karstadt-Kaufhof and head the operations. According to the Wall Street Journal, Benko also paid 1.1 billion euros to the owner of Kaufhof, HBC

. Some closures only

In the negotiations for the merger of Karstadt and Kaufhof, only a few branches are at stake. "Three to five locations would probably be closed during a merger," said one person familiar with the negotiations. from the German press agency. Both owners are interested in keeping as many department stores as possible and making them profitable.

Kaufhof currently operates 96 department stores in Germany, Karstadt 82. Kaufhof did not want to comment on the news Thursday, Karstadt was not available to comment

Benko wants to reduce costs

In a merger, the Participants expect to be able to reduce costs in administration and purchasing. More significant reductions would only be possible due to the larger quantities that a merged group would receive. A standardization of the range would also create greater power for buyers. For example, if there are currently different suppliers for the two department store operators for a product, they will end up fighting a price war so they do not fly away – that's at least l & rsquo; For Karstadt and Kaufhof

Great Fears

The Karstadt headquarters in Essen has sparked fears of already merging big fears. "Many colleagues are indignant and the uncertainty is great," said Arno Leder, chief of staff at Essen's head office, quoted Thursday in the "Westfalenpost" (online). "We urge the company's management to make a clear commitment to the Essen site." Today, the company committee of the Karstadt Headquarters has already met for an extraordinary meeting. Nearly 1,000 employees work for the Karstadt chain on the traditional site of Essen-Bredeney.

The mayor of Essen, Thomas Kufen (CDU), is also alarmed. "Karstadt is part of Essen, which is why we are alerted by reports that the Karstadt headquarters could be moved, which would be a turning point," Kufen said. Karstadt is a traditional business of Essen. Already since the 1950s Karstadt was with parts of the seat in Essen. A few months ago, Karstadt had already planned to leave Essen

Previous offers abandoned

HBC acquired Kaufhof in October 2015. But the chain, with its current 96 department stores and around 18,000 employees in Germany, n & # 39 has not picked up speed since then. The Canadian owners of Kaufhof had shunned Rene Benko's offers in the past – most recently last February. The approximately 3 billion euros offered by Benko at that time were well below the value of Kaufhof and the value of the real estate that related to it, HBC had said at the time . But now the situation has changed – Kaufhof suffers from continuous losses and HBC is also under pressure in its North American home market. Discussions about a much needed restructuring collective agreement at Kaufhof are also pending. Verdi's negotiator, Franke, only wants to sue him when there is clarity about the future of the chain. With that, Kaufhof will continue to flee costs, the owner of Karstadt Benko plays in the cards. Karstadt belongs to the Tyrolean real estate entrepreneur since 2014.