Iconic German department store KaDeWe in Thai hands

The Central Group, from Thailand, has acquired the iconic ‘Kaufhaus des Westens’ (KaDeWe) building from the bankrupt Signa Group for a billion euros. It already had a majority stake in the eponymous retailer.

Huge deal

Signa subsidiary Prime Selection still owned the iconic real estate, but has now sold the property to the Central Group, Handelsblatt reports based on confirmation by insiders. Moreover, talks are ongoing to transfer the operational management of KaDeWe to Central as well.

Central already had an option to buy half of the property in the spring of 2023, the German newspaper reports. Signa does claim that Central had indeed acquired half of the building by then, but that deal had apparently not yet been finalised. Now, the Thai holding company is buying the entire building, which is more than 60,000 sqm in size.

“Exorbitant” rents

Due to the problems at Signa Group, KaDeWe filed for insolvency at the end of January, mainly to be able to reorganise without their old owner. Although the luxury department store had its highest-ever turnover in financial year 2022/2023, the retailer said its losses were due to property owner Signa, whose rents would be “exorbitant” and making it “virtually impossible” to be sustainably profitable.

The Central Group owns quite a few Thai shopping centres, but is also increasingly active in Europe. It owns Italy’s La Rinascente and is close to a full takeover of British department store chain Selfridges. Here too, the Thai group was previously co-owner along with Signa.