Thailand’s Central Group is said to be negotiating the purchase of a department store in Germany.

The mall owner and retailer already owns the La Rinascente Department Store in Italy and the Danish department store Illum, and is expanding its Southeast Asian d-store network into Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Quoting an unidentified “industry source”, the Bangkok Post newspaper said a deal was expected to be settled “in coming months”. Central Group executives declined to confirm or deny the investment.

Central has created a 10 billion baht (about US$300 million) fund for acquisitions this year, so the deal won’t be on the scale of Canadian department store giant Hudson’s Bay’s bid for Germany’s Kaufhof chain, said to be valued at $2 billion.

The Bangkok Post quoted Central director Sudhitham Chirathivat saying Germany’s economy was the strongest in Europe, therefore an appealing market for acquisitions.

“We believe in investment opportunities in Europe. Whenever the economy is down in Europe, more tourists will visit tourist destinations over there. Based on our experience in Italy, we believe our business in Europe will grow firmly,” Sudhitham said.