German retail concern Arcandor has held talks on a possible merger between its Karstadt department store chain and Metro subsidiary Galeria Kaufhof. An initial exploratory talk between Arcandor's CEO Karl-Gerhard Eick and Eckhard Cordes, the CEO of the Metro Group, took place last Thursday.
German retail concern Arcandor has held talks on a possible merger between its Karstadt department store chain and Metro subsidiary Galeria Kaufhof. An initial exploratory talk between Arcandor's CEO Karl-Gerhard Eick and Eckhard Cordes, the CEO of the Metro Group, took place last Thursday.
Both companies have declared that a merger is a reasonable path for the future of the German department stores. The talks mark a reversal from the stance Eick took just a week ago when he rejected the notion of a tie-up between the two department store chains. Together, Karstadt and Kaufhof have 206 department stores and 40 specialised sports markets at some 250 locations.
