The privately held Tengelmann Group and its North Rhine-Westphalia-based subsidiary HH Holding are set to take over the 162 stores of insolvent department store chain Woolworth, administrator Ottmar Hermann announced last week. The sale comes just over a year after the Woolworth group filed for administration in early 2009. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The privately held Tengelmann Group and its North Rhine-Westphalia-based subsidiary HH Holding are set to take over the 162 stores of insolvent department store chain Woolworth, administrator Ottmar Hermann announced last week. The sale comes just over a year after the Woolworth group filed for administration in early 2009. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
According to Hermann, the transaction was made possible thanks to 'constructive cooperation' with New York-based Cerberus Capital Management, which acquired 82 Woolworth stores in 2007 from UK financial investor Argyll Partners.
'I am glad that the future of Woolworth is secured with the entrance of a new investor,' Hermann said. The ownership of the department store portfolio and the retail business will be transferred to the bidding consortium on July 1, 2010.
The Tengelmann Group is a major discount retailer in Germany. As part of the transaction, the company has announced plans to expand the Woolworth network to around 500 stores over the next years, and eventually to 1,000.
