For Arndt Geiwitz it is the moment of truth: the creditors’ meeting of the last major German department store group, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, will decide on Monday whether to accept or reject the insolvency plan for the traditional company. Since November of last year, the insolvency expert has been working seven days a week as Galeria’s general representative to give the badly battered department store giant a chance of survival. Now everything depends on the creditors.
“My hope is that the creditors will agree again this time because the alternative is much more painful,” said Geiwitz a few days before the meeting of the German Press Agency. “Rejection of the insolvency plan would mean the end of the company.” The branches should probably be closed immediately.
Geiwitz is one of the best-known German insolvency administrators
Geiwitz knows what he’s talking about. The 53-year-old business economist is one of the best-known German insolvency administrators – and he is one of the key figures in the effort to secure a future for the Essen-based retail giant.
Geiwitz became known nationwide a good ten years ago as the insolvency administrator when the Schlecker drugstore chain went bankrupt. To this day, the 53-year-old sees what happened back then with mixed feelings. “Schlecker was both a success and a failure at the same time,” he says. Although the inevitable liquidation was successfully completed, it hurt him that the jobs could not be saved.
“As an insolvency administrator, you are jointly responsible for the personal fate of your employees,” emphasized Geiwitz. They can’t stand several cases like Schlecker in a row.”
As an insolvency administrator, you have to treat employees fairly, is how the business economist describes his credo. “You can’t blindly give gifts to the employees, but you can’t ignore their interests either,” he says, and then elaborates: “You have to do more than the bankruptcy law requires, than you’re obliged to do – even if that is the case is neither remunerated nor earns praise from the creditors.”
Long after the bankruptcy of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Christel Hoffmann, the former Chair of the Schlecker General Works Council, confirmed that these are more than just empty words. “Geiwitz is a person with a very high level of social and moral responsibility, which is not often encountered these days,” she confirmed to the insolvency administrator. “For him, people are in the foreground and not just the numbers.” In fact, the insolvency administrator is still fighting in court for money for the “Schlecker women”.
No independent position at Galeria
At Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, however, Geiwitz is by no means in such a powerful and independent position as he was as a court-appointed insolvency administrator at Schlecker. At Galeria he is “only” the restructuring officer appointed by the management in a protective shield procedure and the owner René Benko, but the top management also have a say.
Geiwitz also speaks of a compromise solution as far as future corporate strategy is concerned. In addition to the planned closure of 47 department stores and the shedding of thousands of jobs, the rapid modernization of all remaining stores and a more regionally oriented range of goods should give the traditional company new impetus.
Geiwitz rejects allegations
Geiwitz had already played a key role as general representative in Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof’s first protective shield procedure in 2020. He rejects the accusation that the cuts were not deep enough. “If we hadn’t had external factors like Corona or the Ukraine war, the first procedure would have been enough to rehabilitate Galeria,” he says.
He is optimistic about the new process. “My job is to carry out the protective shield procedure in such a way that Galeria then has the best starting conditions to survive on the market in the future and we are well on the way there,” says Geiwitz.
Galeria has achieved its goals in the negotiations with the landlords and has taken the necessary steps on the part of the employees. In addition, regionalization was initiated. “If the creditors agree now, we have achieved everything in this protective shield procedure that a protective shield procedure can achieve,” he said. However, the future success of the last major German department store chain depends on the skill of the management. (dpa)