The department store chain is receiving extensive state aid during the Corona pandemic. A large part of the federal government’s claims have since been dropped. But some of it is flowing back – and there could be more.
According to the government, the financial losses for the federal government due to the state aid packages for the repeatedly insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof are being contained. Around 119 million euros of the aid from the Corona Rescue Fund (WSF) has so far been returned, according to a response from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a minor inquiry from the group around Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) in the Bundestag. The business magazine “Capital” had previously reported.
Since the measures were granted, the WSF has received returns consisting of repayments, interest and proportionate proceeds from the sale, the response states. Further returns are to be expected from repayments and proceeds “from ongoing collateral sale”. “The final costs for the WSF cannot therefore be conclusively quantified at present,” the ministry continues.
The state stabilization fund WSF had provided Galeria with 680 million euros in 2021 and 2022. A large part of the claims had been eliminated in the course of the insolvency proceedings concluded in 2023.
A so-called subordinated loan of EUR 88 million was continued. Because new collateral was agreed in the event of a default, the WSF has, according to previous information, priority separation rights from the insolvency estate.
According to reports from the end of May, the responsible financial agency expects that the demands will now be met in full. On April 1, 2024, insolvency proceedings were reopened over the assets of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH. No further defaults are to be expected in the course of the new insolvency, it was said at the end of May. The general secretary of the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance, Christian Leye, sharply criticizes the processes involved in the Galeria rescue: “Unfortunately, one must continue to state that hardly anywhere else has public money been burned as reliably as at Galeria. The returns to the WSF now reported change little in this regard and are no reason to celebrate.” In addition to the employees, the taxpayer remains the big loser in the tragedy surrounding Galeria.
Source: Stern
