Olivier van den Bossche, CEO of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof Gmbh for around eight months, wants to separate from the previous consulting company Retail Capital Partners (RCP). According to reports in the food newspaper, RCP’s proximity to its shareholder Signa bothers him. This closeness extends to the top floors of both companies. RCP not only worked for Galeria, but also in many companies across the entire Signa Group. He also accuses RCP, which has worked for the trading company for many years, of paying fees that are too high despite comparatively manageable success. There is talk of double-digit million amounts for the last financial year alone. Instead, Van Den Bossche wants to reduce costs.
Currently, RCP is only supposed to be active in the company on a small scale and only provide sporadic support in the finance department. But the days are numbered there too, they say. Van den Bossche is already looking for a replacement, but he doesn’t want to put any additional burden on the finance department because of the insolvency proceedings that Galeria has been in since the beginning of January. In order to maintain continuity, CFO Guido Mager has also extended his contract, which actually expired at the end of 2023, by half a year.
But there are also other voices: RCP has “carried” the company in recent years. When asked, the three companies have not yet commented on the events.