Otto

"With Karstadt, Nicolas Berggruen took no risk. If the department store chain continues to write red figures, Plan B comes into play – a solution that, for example, the mail-order company Otto has already executed. When the French subsidiary, the mail-order department 3Suisses, became a permanent concern, they began to explore the market as to which parts of it could still be sold most profitably. The lingering suspicion that Nicolas Berggruen would act similarly and quietly scout out the terrain with banks, investors, and even his rivals was finally confirmed like a bolt out of the blue."

"Benko generated 140 million euros, only then was a protective shield procedure possible, in which, unlike a complete bankruptcy, the owner still has control. The protective shield procedure offers Benko - besides the risk of a poor image - also opportunities. Lease contracts can be terminated more quickly, employees can be laid off more easily, and the already planned restructuring can be done more radically and in fast-forward. Signa's man for the protective shield procedure is a familiar face to Benko: Arndt Geiwitz, the tax consultant and auditor known to the broader public from the Schlecker insolvency. Benko first hired Geiwitz in 2013 during the purchase of Karstadt, where he had him review the finances. He also assisted in the takeover of the Otto subsidiary SportScheck. Now he is supposed to reorganize the department store business at Galeria. In the end, around 40 branches will close. No one among the top executives had experience with a protective shield procedure, says a trade manager. Geiwitz, on the other hand, would have known how to quickly set up a protective shield procedure, how to control the creditors' committee, which people to bring in; he did all that very cleverly."