- BERLIN: A German court has given the green light for an investor to take over the country's bankrupt Karstadt department store chain with its 25,000 employees —ending months of haggling and uncertainty over its future.
Karstadt has been under an insolvency administrator since parent Arcandor AG filed for protection in June 2009.
The German news agency DAPD reported that an administrative court in Essen on Friday approved a plan for financial investor Nicolas Berggruen to take over the chain.
Berggruen was chosen to take over Karstadt in June but the plan then got bogged down in wrangling over rent levels for its roughly 120 stores.
An agreement by the buildings' owners to lower rents paved the way for a final deal this week.