Germany

The company behind Signa’s flagship high-rise development in Hamburg filed for insolvency, further challenging efforts to restructure René Benko’s property empire, Bloomberg News reported. The company developing the 245 meter (800 feet) Elbtower notified the city of its request for creditor protection Friday, according to a statement from the municipality’s authority for urban development and housing.

Germany’s Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain is attracting interest from buyers looking to lap up assets hit by the insolvency of Rene Benko’s Signa empire, Bloomberg News reported. “There are more than two interested parties,” insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus said in emailed comments to Bloomberg, declining to give further details. A creditor committee is discussing the sale process and will swiftly proceed with negotiations, he said.

Germany’s Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof has become the latest asset caught up in the bankruptcy spiral of Rene Benko’s Signa property and retail empire, Bloomberg News reported. The department store chain filed for insolvency at the Essen district court on Tuesday — the third such filing in less than four years for the embattled retailer. Stefan Denkhaus, named Galeria’s interim administrator, said in a statement that the move was the only way the company could “free itself” from Signa’s grip.

German industrial production unexpectedly fell in November, the federal statistics office said on Tuesday, marking the sixth monthly decline in a row, Reuters reported. Industrial production decreased in November by 0.7% compared to the previous month. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.2% rise. "The unexpected fall in German industrial production in November shows that companies are increasingly reacting to falling order books," Commerzbank's chief economist Joerg Kraemer said.

German department store giant Galeria could file for insolvency again as early as this week, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday, joining the list of companies affected by the collapse of Signa founder Rene Benko's real estate empire, Reuters reported. The insolvency application could come as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday, according to one source. "The probability is high," said another person familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Galeria, which has already survived two insolvency proceedings, declined to comment.

A 16th-century building in Munich, a luxury Berlin office development and the headquarters of department store Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof are among assets held by Signa property companies forced into insolvency in the last week, Bloomberg News reported. Torsten Martini, an insolvency administrator at law firm Görg, is in talks with creditor banks of a Berlin site at Schönhauser Allee 9 to see if construction may be able to resume, according to a spokesperson.

The Local Court of Münster has opened regular insolvency proceedings for the assets of Gigaset AG. The communications technology provider published a corresponding announcement on its website on Tuesday evening, MarketScreener.com reported. Markus Wischemeyer was appointed insolvency administrator. Gigaset AG had filed for insolvency in September and is insolvent according to its own statements. The main reason for this was an unexpected and significant decline in revenue in the second half of 2023 and a business performance that was significantly below plan.

The number of unemployed people in Germany rose slightly in December, by much less than analysts had expected, labour office figures showed on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Federal Labour Office said the number of people out ofwork increased by 5,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.703 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the total to rise by 20,000. "The labour market is still holding up well in terms of the extent of the burdens and uncertainties," said Andrea Nahles, chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency.

Digital freight forwarding platform, Instafreight, has filed for insolvency in mid-December at the Berlin-Charlottenburg district court, BNNBreaking.com reported. The startup, founded in 2016 by Philipp Ortwein and Gion-Otto Presser-Velder, had successfully raised over 70 million euros in capital over its operational years. Still, the company ran into a financial cul-de-sac due to over-indebtedness, an ironic situation considering it did not face any liquidity issues.