Germany's troubled department store chain Hertie said on Wednesday that it plans to close 19 of its 73 German branches throughout Germany by the end of March. The slimdown will affect 520 fulltime jobs.
Germany's troubled department store chain Hertie said on Wednesday that it plans to close 19 of its 73 German branches throughout Germany by the end of March. The slimdown will affect 520 fulltime jobs.
The firm, which recently named White & Case as administrators as it struggled to meet payments, hopes to be able to find an investor for its assets and renegotiate more favourable rental terms with the owners of its properties. Binar Bähr, the partner at White & Case who is advising Hertie, said that the company will face bankruptcy unless it fails to find an investor by the end of February.
The group is closing stores in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hamlin and Delmenhorst (Lower Saxony), Niebüll and Mölln (Schleswig-Holstein), Aschaffenburg (Bavaria), Kassel (Hesse) and the Langenhorn district of Hamburg.
Hertie hired Atisreal at the beginning of 2008 to sell a portfolio of 64 properties. The broker said last week that the sale process did not progress much over the year because of the difficult financing environment. To date, Atisreal has sold six Hertie properties mostly located in North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Germany.
