Berggruen Holdings, BCBG Team for Karstadt Bid

"Karstadt is an iconic German company with more than 125 years of history and we are committed to reviving the brand and returning it to its former glory," says Nicolas Berggruen, head of Berggruen Holdings. "We are optimistic about our opportunity to work cooperatively with Karstadt to re-build and enhance the company and to seize on strong prospects within the German retail industry. We believe Karstadt suffered significantly under its previous owners and our joint venture with BCBG Max Azria Group is the ideal partnership to bring a fresh and knowledgeable perspective to the company while protecting jobs for Karstadt's employees."

This spring, Merrill Lynch & Co. was assigned to find a buyer for Karstadt, whose parent company Arcandor filed for bankruptcy in June 2009. The Bergguren/BCBG joint venture