Middelhof Named as New Karstadt CEO

KarstadtQuelle, the troubled German department store operator, said Thursday that its supervisory board chief Thomas Middelhoff was taking as chief executive officer, a position left vacant since former chairman Christoph Achenbach quit last month. Middelhoff, 52, would be replaced as supervisory board chief by Hero Brahms, KarstadtQuelle said in a statement. Chief financial officer, Harald Pinger, who had been acting as interim chairman for the retail giant after Achenbach left, would take on the additional responsibility of managing KarstadtQuelle's mail order business. The current head of the mail order business, Arwed Fischer, would leave the company.