Metro Still Interested in 60 Karstadt Stores

ESSEN, Germany – Metro, the biggest retailer in Europe, is still looking to take-over 60 Karstadt sports department stores from insolvent Arcandor. This follows the mid August announcement made by the Arcandor Management Board that it will end

its search for a new anchor investor for Arcandor AG. The Management Board stated: “Due to most recent developments and a difficult market environment the prospects for attracting an anchor investor allowing the Group to continue as a going concern are by now considered to be extremely low. The Management Board is now particularly focussing on finding investors for the Group's retail segments, Karstadt and Primondo.”

The fact that there will not be a take-over of the complete Arcandor Group clears the take-over of Karstadt. However, Metro has shown interested in acquiring only 60 of the current 108 Karstadt and Karstadt Sport department stores. Whether owner Arcandor is prepared to sell only a part of the retail chain is not yet clear.

Meanwhile, two credit insurance companies, Zurich and Euro Delkredere from Mühlheim, have reportedly agreed to guarantee payments to Karstadt’s suppliers that fall due from September 1. This news was recently published by the trade journal for the sporting goods sector.

Karstadt and Karstadt Sport department stores sell bicycles under the brand names Hon (folders), Torpedo, Kettler, Alex and Scott as well as a broad range of P&A products for bicycles. The German bike trade press recently reported that Metro is branching out into the bike sector as its Galeria Kaufhof sports department stores currently do not offer bikes and/or bike products. It is even said in these reports that Metro aims to become the biggest in bikes.