The Central Group, Thailand's largest retailer, will acquire a majority stake in the European company that operates three luxury department stores in Germany — The KaDeWe, Oberpollinger, and Alsterhaus.
The group clinched a deal to purchase a 50.1% stake in The KaDeWe Group, a company which owns the three department stores, from Signa, which will keep the remaining 49.9%, the group said in a statement on Tuesday. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Located in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, the three department stores are more than 100 years old.
The KaDeWe in Berlin, which opened its door to shopper in 1907, is the biggest department store in Germany, with over 60,000 square metres of retail space. Oberpollinger in Munich opened in 1905 while Alsterhaus in Hamburg is the oldest of the three, with history dated backed to 1897.
Central has had a presence in Europe since 2011, when it acquired the Italian department store group La Rinascente and repositioned the flagship store in Milan and the other 10 stories around Italy. A new branch will also open in Rome in February 2017.
In 2013, the group acquired Illum, the oldest department store in Denmark. It started a five-year repositioning programme shortly after and the renovation is expected to be completed in 2018.
Mr Tos said La Rinascente and Illum booked combined annual sales of 600 million euro and the company expected to double them through the addition of the three department stores in Germany.