These eight real shops are the first victims of the Russian investor
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The Russian investor SCP has taken over Real from the Metro group
Quelle: picture alliance / SvenSimon
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A few days ago, the Russian financial investor SCP took over the department store chain Real – and it is already announcing the first closings. Other markets may follow, realignments are conceivable. The online division Real.de swallows a former competitor.
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WA few days after the change of ownership at the hypermarket chain Real, the company announced the closure of eight branches. The markets of Berlin-Spandau, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Duisburg-Süd, Frankenthal, Goslar, Herten-Westerholt, Leißling-Weißenfels and Mönchengladbach-Rheydt will not be continued. And there is no buyer either. Around 700 employees are affected. Further closings are likely to follow.
In any case, the Russian financial investor SCP, which took over Real from the Metro group for around 300 million euros last week, expects a total of 30 businesses that “currently have no viable future”. However, SCP is still examining alternatives. “Closures will only be considered if all other options have been exhausted,” assures the retail property investor.
The Real portfolio currently comprises 276 branches in Germany. The new owner will continue to run a core of 50 locations for two years.
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A number of competitors are vying for large parts of the rest. Especially since SCP makes no secret of wanting to smash the portfolio and resell it as profitably as possible. And the first deals are already in the offing: Kaufland, for example, notified the takeover of up to 101 markets for merger control at the Federal Cartel Office on June 11th.
But Edeka is also planning to buy Real stores, there are 53 of them. Both companies have promised to take over the employees of the respective locations.
Rewe, Globus and Tegut are also interested in several markets. Corresponding talks are said to follow. The first handovers could then take place from the fourth quarter, as SCP recently announced – provided the cartel office releases the planned sales.
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The end of the queue – – – – –
The great interest is no accident. “Such locations are hardly approved today,” says the industry. And that doesn’t just apply to food retail. So it is possible that in some places there will also be reclassifications and other retail formats, including, for example, DIY chains.
After all, individual locations have a space of up to 12,000 square meters. Experts also name the sports retail chain Decathlon as a potential after-user of unprofitable grocery stores.
Perhaps this also applies to the eight branches for which, despite intensive efforts, no prospect from the food sector could be found and which now have to close. “The background to this decision was the difficult economic situation in all cases due to very high losses in recent years,” explains a Real spokesman. “Against this background, the closings of these markets are essential.”
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The big toilet paper hamster is over
It is the end of the big “toilet paper hamster wave”. Many manufacturers now remain on their roles. Demand has plummeted. Many large customers had to close temporarily.
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The company will now start negotiations as soon as possible with the responsible works councils about a reconciliation of interests and a social plan.
The end of Metro was announced for a further seven branches as early as Metro times. At the end of the year, the markets in Bamberg and Deggendorf in Bavaria as well as in Bad Sobernheim in Rhineland-Palatinate and in Papenburg in Lower Saxony closed.
The end of March 2021 will also end in Augsburg and in Wildau near Berlin. The branch in Rheine, North Rhine-Westphalia, will also be added at the end of June.
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In total, around 650 employees are affected. SCP will also sell the digital business with the Real.de platform, which functions like an Internet marketplace. The buyer there is the Schwarz Group, to which Kaufland and Lidl belong. Perspectively, Real.de should therefore continue under the name Kaufland.
“The online platform is intended to complement the brick-and-mortar business and expand the range for customers and trading partners,” says the Schwarz Group in a statement. In the medium term, experts trust the platform to generate sales of more than one billion euros.
