Karstadt expects to be debt free soon

By Rajiv Sekhri

LONDON (Reuters) - KarstadtQuelle KARG.DE expects to be debt free within weeks after it raised 3.7 billion euros by selling property earlier this year, the German retailer's chief executive told the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit.

"I am very optimistic," Thomas Middelhoff told Reuters in London, adding that the restructuring group should soon announce the sale of two more properties, including its Essen headquarters.

Shares in KarstadtQuelle were down 2.7 percent at 20 euros by 1206 GMT, hitting a low of 19.65 euros earlier. More than 1.5 million shares had traded, above the 90-day average trading volume of 1 million shares.

Two traders said investors were selling as they saw no prospect of good news following the payment of debt and the boost to sales from the soccer World Cup in Germany ending on July 9.

Middelhoff, who took the helm at KarstadtQuelle in May 2005 and drove through a major overhaul, said he was also looking at mergers and acquisitions, but declined to give details.

"Our thought is that if we partner with somebody who is strengthening us in the (top-end) department stores business, we will get a good value," said Middelhoff, who helped avert bankruptcy at KarstadtQuelle in late 2004, months after he became its supervisory board chairman.

At its money-losing mail-order division, KarstadtQuelle is expected to make acquisitions to boost sales over the Internet, he said.

Karstadt plans to raise a further 600 million euros ($758.1 million) by selling more property in the next few months and has two or three bidders lined up, Middelhoff said. In addition, it plans to raise at least another 800 million euros within the next three to five years by selling more real estate.

KarstadtQuelle plans to pay off its debt of around 2.6 billion euros from the 3.7 billion euros it has raised. Analysts and industry watchers say the company will have enough money to acquire and revamp its own operations.

Middelhoff declined to comment on whether KarstadtQuelle was in talks with Lufthansa (LHAG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to buy the 50 percent of Thomas Cook that the German airline owns. Thomas Cook is Europe's second-largest tourism company.

"We believe tourism is our core business," Middelhoff said. "We believe that in the future travel will be sold more and more through Internet channels."

Middelhoff said he viewed the company's financial services unit, which has 26 million customers, as a hidden treasure. He said the group wanted to develop the unit more, but would not say whether it could be sold in the future.

MARKET CAP

Middelhoff, who has also been CEO of German media giant Bertelsmann, said he was convinced KarstadtQuelle's market capitalization would double to 9-10 billion euros by the end of 2008, when he aims to have finished the revamp.

With nearly 211 million shares outstanding, that would mean a share price in the region of 43-47 euros.  Continued...