(Bloomberg) -- A consortium led by former Coty Inc. chief Bernd Beetz is one of the two remaining bidders for German department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Beetz, who also sat on Galeria’s supervisory board for a time, has teamed up with HBC CEO Richard Baker’s National Realty and Development Corp., they said. The other potential buyer is a consortium led by ex-Karstadt Chief Executive Officer Helmut Merkel from advisory firm Brook Valley, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private.

Retail-focused investment firm GA Europe had also shown interest in Galeria and could team up with one of the bidders, the people said. It has previously done deals together with Brook Valley.

Officials for the bidders and Galeria’s insolvency administrator declined to comment, except for NRDC, which was not immediately available for comment. Wirtschaftswoche earlier reported that Beetz and NRDC are bidding for Galeria.

Galeria, a storied department store chain that came up for sale following the meltdown of Rene Benko’s Signa conglomerate, has narrowed negotiations to two bidders, insolvency administrator Stefan Denkhaus said recently on a call with journalists. Both potential buyers aim to continue operating Galeria as a whole, he said. 

The administrator is hoping to sign a deal as early as next week, with the number of Galeria locations that would be remain open likely determined at a later stage, a person close to the matter said. The administrator has said he hopes for at least 60 of the currently 92 shops to survive. Signa owns 18 of the Galeria locations.  

Management has touted the latest turnaround as a liberation from Benko, who imposed high rents after his real estate investment units took over the properties occupied by the retailer.

Droege Group had explored a possible bid but didn’t make a binding offer, the Duesseldorf-based company said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. German media reports had suggested that Droege was among the bidders. France’s Galeries Lafayette, which had also been reported as a potential acquirer, said that neither the company nor its owners were bidding.

Galeria has been a traditional name in German city centers and its third insolvency in less than half a decade continues to draw scrutiny from creditors and politicians. 

Previous restructurings have almost halved its footprint, from as many as 170 locations following a merger with competitor Karstadt in 2020 that was orchestrated by Benko. In an effort to help save thousands of jobs in a struggling industry, the German government expects to write off about €590 million ($637 million) of Covid-era loans to the company, people familiar with the matter have said.

--With assistance from Giulia Morpurgo.

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