On Monday, the court announced that it would lift the insolvency proceedings effective July 31. Creditors had already approved the restructuring plan proposed by the insolvency administrator at the end of May.
Insolvency administrator Stefan Deckshaus revealed that significant reductions in the department store chain’s cost structure had been achieved, positioning the group with a strong economic starting point and substantial liquidity in the nine-digit range. Despite this progress, Deckshaus expressed a desire for a grace period for the new concept and the group.
“New governments or ministers usually get a grace period of 100 days,” says Deckshaus. “I would like Galeria to get that too with the new owners. Ideally, 300 days to implement the future concept step by step.”
Starting August 1st, the department store group will once again operate under its own management, guided by a new ownership consortium consisting of the US investment company NRDC and an investment firm owned by entrepreneur Bernd Beetz, who took over Galeria in April. According to a statement from Essen, the new shareholders plan to continue the restructuring process in collaboration with the management. Managing director Olivier Van den Bossche, who took over after the previous insolvency proceedings concluded, will remain in his position, focusing on the “core competence” of the department store with a local emphasis and branch modernization.
“We will now start a new corporate culture in close collaboration with management and staff,” says Beetz. “Together, we will tackle the implementation of the agreed concepts with the aim of making our branches more attractive, rewarding performance more, and increasing the satisfaction of our customers.”
Of the 92 branches that existed at the start of the process, 83 department stores were saved, seven more than initially planned. However, some closures were unavoidable due to high rents and the connection to the Signa insolvency network, which were key factors in the renewed restructuring process. The current list of closures includes branches at the Ringcenter and Tempelhof in Berlin, in Essen and Wesel in North Rhine-Westphalia, in Augsburg and Regensburg in Bavaria, in Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, in Leonberg in Baden-Württemberg, in Potsdam in Brandenburg, and in Chemnitz in Saxony.
The most significant cuts will occur at Galeria’s headquarters in Essen, which will relocate to Düsseldorf at the beginning of 2025. Overall, approximately 900 jobs were lost due to the insolvency, while around 12,000 jobs were retained.