Berggruen closes on Karstadt deal

Nicolas Berggruen, the US-based investor, is close to taking over Germany’s insolvent Karstadt department store chain after a committee of the group’s creditors voted to favour his bid over those of two rivals, the FT reports. A formal contract to acquire Karstadt and the approval of a German court are set to follow this week, making Mr Berggruen’s group the owners of the chain of about 120 department stores with 25,000 employees.