Signa Holding GmbH Chairman René Benko is raising cash via a €500 million share sale and a €300 million bond offering in order to purchase Galeria Kaufhof GmbH from Hudson's Bay Co., Bloomberg News reported Sept. 4, citing a document.
Benko reportedly met with investors in London, Paris and Frankfurt after he secured regulatory approval to acquire the remaining shares of Kaufhof he does not already own.
Hudson's Bay had merged its European business, which included Kaufhof, with Signa Holding's Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH in 2018. Signa owns 50.01% of the combined entity and the Canadian department store chain owns 49.99%.
According to the Bloomberg report, Benko agreed to buy the latter half of Kaufhof in June. The new funds are reportedly earmarked for "future asset acquisitions" and "to support Signa Prime's growth."
The document reportedly did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
The sale of €500 million of Signa Prime shares was launched on Aug. 29 and is expected to close in September, the report said. Signa Holding plans to buy at least €250 million of the shares and to pick up the ones not subscribed to by the other Signa Prime shareholders, which include the RAG Foundation, Madison International Realty LLC, R+V Insurance Group and the Peugeot family-owned investment vehicle LVM.
Signa Prime's assets are expected to increase by €2.8 billion and its debt to rise by €1.7 billion after the transaction closes, according to the news outlet. The company could reportedly sell some of the 50 properties that it will end up owning as a result of the deal.
