Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** Jewelry and watch manufacturers have largely shielded themselves from payment defaults tied to Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof’s latest restructuring, having secured individual contracts and protections since the retailer’s first insolvency. While other creditors face a stark “take it or leave it” offer of up to 3.5% of debts, these brands remain insulated from the worst fallout.
The current offer for the creditors’ meeting is: “Take it or leave it.” In plain terms: receive a maximum of 3.5% of debts – or risk even more in a complete insolvency. However, jewelry and watch brands are not largely affected by this – they have largely protected themselves since the first insolvency.
The contracts of jewelry and watch brands with the struggling Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof are individual. There are concessionaires with their own spaces, consignment partners (with or without their own staff), but hardly any fixed purchases anymore. Most suppliers will benefit from having already secured themselves with different conditions (and additional insurance) after the first insolvency in 2020.
A large part of the risk of falling into the insolvency estate, i.e., having to queue up behind other creditors and then receiving only a few percent of the debts, has thus already been eliminated. After the group filed for protective shield proceedings for the first time on April 1, 2020 (no joke!), the industry, which sells more real value than others, was warned. The first insolvency, which was completed in September 2020, likely affected manufacturers much more than the current one, because afterwards they worked on the basis of new contracts.
Because even with consignment businesses, the risk remains between the time of sale of the goods at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof and the settlement with the supplier. The settlement intervals are said to have become much shorter since the first insolvency in 2020. For large suppliers working with all approximately 130 (still) existing branches, this can quickly reach six-figure amounts.
None of the jewelry and watch suppliers contacted by Blickpunkt Juwelier wanted to be quoted. The reason is not the pending proceedings and the uncertainty before the creditors’ meeting on March 26. The main reason is likely that they do not want to openly disclose the facts of commission and consignment businesses to the specialist trade. Otherwise, one or another larger jeweler might ask whether they could also negotiate better conditions.
