Germany’s Karstadt AG department store chain said it plans to merge with mail order group Quelle, according to Reuters. The merger, which will create one of Europe’s biggest retail groups with annual sales of about $18 billion, is expected to be completed by autumn.
The group will be called Karstadt Quelle AG and will employ 120,000 people. It will comprise store-based retailing, mail order business, tourism and some possible other services. Financial details were not made available.
Quelle, which last year saw sales growth after years of falling revenues, is 48%-owned by the Schickedanz Handelswerte group. Quelle generated sales of 12.1 billion marks between February 1998 and January 1999, compared to 11.9 billion marks in the year-ago period, a company spokesman said.
