BANGKOK – The Central Group has published highlights of its business as it has already acquired the business of KaDeWe Group from the insolvent Austrian company Signa. Its website stated that a luxury department store group in Europe under Central Group consists of KaDeWe in Berlin, Alsterhaus in Hamburg, and Oberpollinger in Munich, Germany.
“KaDeWe has more than 50,000 visitors per day, Alsterhaus has more than 15,000 visitors per day, and Oberpollinger has more than 30,000 visitors per day,” it stated.
The big business of Thai group did not confirm the purchase price. But Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper put the figure at about €1 billion ($1.07 billion), while Reuters news agency reported that the Thai retailer already holds a 50.1% majority stake in the group.
Reuters also reported that Signa, the property empire founded by tycoon Rene Benko, has been one of the biggest casualties of Europe’s real estate crisis, with creditors filing claims worth billions of euros.
The group’s holding company, which sits at the centre of a web of hundreds of firms, has declared insolvency, as have its two most important units, Signa Prime and Signa Development.
According to the Central Group, KaDeWe in Berlin was also amongst the top 3 in the world with the third place in the category “World’s Best Team at a Department Store”, awarded to the Wine & Spirits Team of KaDeWe by IGDS.
KaDeWe Group department stores under Central Group will expand their empire and presence in Europe with a launch of the very first luxury department store in Vienna, ‘LAMARR’, connected to Thompson Vienna Hotel in Austria. The second upcoming project is ‘Carsch Haus’ in Dusseldorf, Germany. The 2 new projects are scheduled to unveil in 2025.
“The acquisition of the KaDeWe building is the first important milestone for us in the attempt to restore and restructure the KaDeWe Group operating company towards a sustainable, financially viable business,” said Vittorio Radice, board member of Central Group Europe, in a statement.
In 2023, Central Group has taken over Selfridges department stores as Signa faces an investor revolt.
The deal, reportedly worth 4 billion pounds ($5.4 billion), adds to Central’s collection of posh retailers that includes Rinascente in Italy, Illum in Denmark, Switzerland’s Globus and The KaDeWe Group in Germany.
Selfridges was founded in 1908 by Harry Gordon Selfridge and is controlled by the billionaire Weston family of Canada. The group owns 18 department stores including a historic property in London’s Oxford Street shopping district.
Central is the retail flagship of the Thai billionaire Chirathivat family. Selfridges is a nice trophy as it expands globally from its base in Thailand, where the retailing conglomerate owns many department stores and malls.
