KaDeWe Group — Berlin's iconic department store filed insolvency after landlord collapsed

The KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) opened in Berlin in 1907 and grew into Europe's largest department store, a landmark of German retail and a symbol of West Berlin's prosperity. In 2015, the KaDeWe Group was formed around three of Germany's most prestigious department stores — KaDeWe in Berlin, Oberpollinger in Munich, and Alsterhaus in Hamburg — under joint ownership of Austrian Signa Holding (50%) and Thailand's Central Group (50%).

The business was operationally sound. In the 2022/2023 fiscal year, the group recorded its strongest sales ever at nearly €728 million, almost 24% higher than pre-COVID levels. The stores were profitable by any normal retail measure. But they were not profitable after rent — and Signa, the 50% owner, was also the landlord, charging market-defying rents on the buildings it owned.

Signa Holding, the €30 billion real estate and retail empire built by Austrian mogul René Benko, collapsed in November 2023 under the weight of rising European interest rates. The property valuations that underpinned Signa's debt-financed expansion evaporated. Signa's bankruptcy triggered a cascade of insolvencies across its retail portfolio, including the KaDeWe Group.

On January 29, 2024, the KaDeWe Group filed for voluntary insolvency in Berlin. The filing did not affect operations — the stores continued trading — but it exposed the structural flaw: a profitable retailer brought down by its own landlord's financial engineering. Central Group subsequently bought the KaDeWe building from Signa's insolvency estate for €1 billion and later acquired full control of the group.