The consortium planning to take over Germany's bankrupt Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof chain of department stores is to invest up to €100 million ($108 million) over the next three years, dpa learned on Friday.
Current insolvency plans include the shuttering of 16 of the chain's 92 outlets.
The consortium, comprising US private equity firm NRDC and German entrepreneur Bernd Beetz's BB Kapital SA, has taken on restructuring a business undergoing its third bankruptcy in the last three and a half years.
They have to date not stated how much they are prepared to invest to rescue the chain, the last major department store chain in Germany.
Former Galeria owner, Austrian businessman René Benko, last year pledged €200 million to restructure the chain, but nothing of this has materialized apart from €1 million in equity capital amid the bankruptcy of Benko's Signa Group.
This led in turn to Galeria declaring bankruptcy in January.
German commerce expert Carsten Kortum notes that just 10 stores have been modernized, with an average of €20 million needed for each of the remaining 66. Kortum believes an investment of more than €1 billion is needed to rescue the chain.
The takeover by NRDC and Beetz will be concluded only if creditors accept the insolvency plan by May 28 and this is confirmed by the courts.
Administrator Stefan Denkhaus is aiming to transfer ownership by the end of July.