Central Group, the Thai retail conglomerate, will buy a majority stake in three German department stores – including the nation’s largest, the historic KaDeWe in downtown Berlin.

For several months, Central has been reporting it was in negotiations to purchase a department store in Germany but did not reveal any further details of the brands.

Now Central has confirmed it will buy a majority 50.1 per cent stake in The KaDeWe Group, which also owns the Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus stores in Munich and Hamburg. The current owner Signa, will retain the balance of the shareholding.

The value of the deal was not revealed but Central Group had earlier indicated it had a budget of US$300 million for acquisitions this year.

Central, which operates malls and branded retail networks in Thailand, already owns the La Rinascente Department Store network in Italy and the Danish department store Illum, and is expanding its Southeast Asian department store network in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

All three of the newly acquired stores have more than 100 years of trading history and are considered luxury malls with a high standard of service, visual merchandising and product quality.

KaDeWe is Germany’s largest single department store in the heart of the former West Berlin retail precinct, with more than 60,000 sqm of trading space. It opened in 1907.

The Oberpollinger in Munich opened in 1905 and the Alsterhaus is the oldest of the three, dating back to 1897.

Last week, Central said it planned to construct a La Rinascente store in Turin, which would be that chain’s 13th when it opens in two years time.