It remains unclear how many of the 129 branches will remain in the group.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof has taken another important step in restructuring. On Monday, the department store chain submitted the insolvency plan to the Essen district court, which the general representative Arndt Geiwitz developed together with the management.
The court opened the insolvency proceedings in self-administration on Wednesday. Previously, the provisional creditors’ committee voted unanimously to continue self-administration of the ailing company.
The next step is for the creditors’ committee to approve the insolvency plan. Only then can Galeria leave the bankruptcy and begin the announced restructuring. But until then there are still more hurdles.
Insolvency plan: There is still no clarity for Galeria creditors
Those responsible for the proceedings that have now been opened remain the same. Frank Kebekus has been appointed as trustee, Arndt Geiwitz will drive forward the restructuring together with the management as general representative.
Kebekus emphasized on Wednesday: “Galeria has presented a viable concept that takes into account the interests of everyone involved.” There is therefore a very good chance that the creditors’ meeting, which is expected to take place at the end of March, will also approve the plan.
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But there is still no final clarity for the creditors on how much they have to do without. Since the amount of the total claims has not yet been determined, nobody knows how high the so-called insolvency rate will be. This describes what share of his claims a creditor gets back at the end of the process.
The decisive question is whether Galeria can now negotiate that other companies take over locations that Galeria does not want to continue. If another retailer enters into the respective rental agreement and also takes on employees, the receivables from Galeria, for example for outstanding rental payments, are reduced accordingly.
The management has already announced that negotiations are being held with three serious interested parties for the takeover of locations. This was not foreseeable at the beginning of the proceedings.
“These talks open up opportunities to keep as many jobs as possible,” said a spokesman at the request of the Handelsblatt. This has a higher priority than the timely publication of a list of branches that you do not want to continue. It therefore remains unclear how many of the 129 department stores will remain in the group.
Restructuring concept should enable Galeria to restart
What makes the talks even more complicated: If a prospective buyer wants to take over a branch, he cannot simply enter into the Galeria lease, but also has to come to an agreement with the owner of the property. He then concludes a new lease with the buyer. This is one of the reasons why the works council assumes, for example, that it may take until mid-March before it is clear how many houses will be closed.
In the first insolvency proceedings, Galeria had distributed a total of 100 million euros to the creditors. Since the claims totaled 2.2 billion euros, the calculated insolvency rate was 4.55 percent.
The restructuring concept that Geiwitz has now developed with the management should enable the company to restart. All remaining stores are to be modernized and the range to be more closely adapted to local needs.
“Focusing, prioritizing, efficiency and speed are the clear guidelines that management must now implement consistently,” explained Geiwitz. If that succeeds, Galeria in Germany will have a positive future.
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