BERLIN — Consultancy KPMG has been hired to find buyers for the insolvent German luxury brand Escada AG, and will prepare and oversee talks with potential investors.
Industry observers said more than 12 possible buyers have expressed interest, but the Munich-based lawyer Nickolaus Becker is the only one so far to have gone public.
Time is running out for the German label, which registered for insolvency, the German equivalent of Chapter 11, on Aug. 13. Escada’s financing runs out in December, and insolvency administrators would like to come up with a buyer by the beginning of November at the latest.
Escada has said there are no plans at the moment to cut any of the 2,300 jobs. And chief executive officer Bruno Sälzer, who took over the brand a year ago, has expressed optimism Escada can be saved.
But the market doesn’t seem to share his positive attitude. On Wednesday afternoon, Escada shares were trading at 0.82 euros, or $1.17 at current exchange rates, compared with 12.51 euros, or $17.90, a year ago.