The owner of Germany’s best-known luxury department stores, Munich’s Oberpollinger and Hamburg’s Alsterhaus, has struck new lease agreements for both properties, sources familiar with the matter told dpa on Friday.
The rental agreements, struck with the bankruptcy administrator for the former owner of the buildings, are expected to allow both stores to remain open and operating, according to the KaDeWe Group, which owns both stores.
Employees at the stores were informed of the deals on Friday morning, dpa has learned.
The agreement is also accompanied by about 40 job cuts, which will particularly affect the administration of the KaDeWe Group but will also affect the stores themselves. The company has a total of about 1,300 employees.
The KaDeWe Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment from dpa on Friday.
The Thai retail and hospitality giant Central Group took direct control of business operations of the three luxury department stores in June. Central Group already held a 50.1% stake in the KaDeWe Group.
The remaining stake in the stores, as well as the buildings themselves, belonged to the bankrupt Signa empire of controversial Austrian real estate mogul René Benko.
In January, the KaDeWe Group filed for insolvency, although business operations in the department stores are continuing.
Berlin’s iconic Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) department store, which is also owned by the same company, is not affected by the agreement. According to Berlin’s government, the Central Group took control of the KaDeWe building in April for €1 billion ($1.1 billion).
