US group Apollo Global Management is said to be the frontrunner in a bid to acquire a portfolio of 17 stores from the ailing department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, majority owned by the Austrian group Signa Holding.
According to a news report by Bloomberg, a fund managed by Apollo has emerged ahead of at least two other bidders in the run to acquire the properties for some €700 mln.
The deal has already received the green light from the German antitrust authority.
It remains unclear where the stores are located. Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, with a total of 240 city-centre locations in Europe, filed for insolvency at the beginning of April and it is now under creditor protection.
