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A branch of Karstadt and a branch of Kaufhof face each other in Dusseldorf. Photo: Martin Gerten
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
B erlin / New York (dpa) – In the negotiations for the merger of Karstadt and Kaufhof, the fewest shops are at stake.
"Drei" up to five locations would probably be closed during a merger, "said a person familiar with the negotiations of the German news agency.
Karstadt wants to maintain as many department stores as possible and lead to profitability. Kaufhof currently operates 96 department stores in Germany, Karstadt 82.
Wirtschaftswoche had previously announced that the Canadian owner of Kaufhof, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the Austrian owner of Karstadt, Rene Benko, had signed a letter of intent on Tuesday. It plans to merge Kaufhof, Karstadt and Karstadt Sport
The title of this article is "Agreement on merger of equals in the sector of European department stores". But it is quite clear that in a merger, the operational management of the company will be in Karstadt, according to the trading circles. "But we are still far from an agreement, which can all burst again," he said in circles on Thursday.
Last week, it was realized that the owners of both chains were still talking about cooperation, The owner of Karstadt, Benko, has been playing for years with the integration of Kaufhof in his great empire. stores and the creation of a "Deutsche Warenhaus AG" by the merger of its rivals.
However, his attempts to acquire Kaufhof have failed several times in recent years. Just a few months ago, HBC had rejected an offer of 3 billion euros from the Austrian for the Kaufhof and a related real estate lot.
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