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The Cartels Office approved the merger of Karstadt and Galeria Kaufhof. The department store chain is facing a difficult restructuring.
The Federal Cartel Office has given the green light to the merger of Karstadt and Kaufhof. Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt said in Bonn: "We thoroughly examined the project and there was no serious competition problem from the point of view of the consumer, manufacturers and suppliers." Karstadt and Kaufhof not only have many competitors in the stationery sector. Online sales also create additional competitive pressure.
Department stores hope for a better competitive position
The new distribution giant will have 243 sites in Europe and will employ around 32,000 people. Under the umbrella of the new group, not only will the German branches Kaufhof and Karstadt be united, but also the sports stores Karstadt, the European branches of the chain Saks Off 5th stores, the department stores Galeria Inno in Belgium, which were recently Founded Hudson Bay's department stores in the Netherlands and a number of Internet providers.
Karstadt receives a small majority of the shares
Officially, there is talk of a "merger of equals". However, Rene Benko, owner of Karstadt, in the Signa group, will hold the majority in the new company: Signa receives 50.01% of the shares, the Canadian owner of Kaufhof, HBC, 49.99%. In the future, Signa will hold billions of dollars in Kaufhof's properties up to 50%.
What the merger will bring to workers and communities is still very uncertain at the moment. There are no figures on expected job cuts or information on possible closures. However, Rene Benko, owner of Karstadt, recently tried to dispel the fears of drastic cuts: "Of course, we must rearrange it, but we will fight for each branch and try to put it in the dark as before", has he stressed.
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