Kaufhof is owned by Canada's Hudson's Bay Co and Austria's Signa Holding.

The statement said the cuts were needed as part of a restructuring to cut costs following weak Christmas sales.

Reuters reported earlier this week that Kaufhof may have to cut costs after sales fell over the Christmas period.

German regulators approved a merger of Kaufhof with rival chain Karstadt in November, creating a group with 243 department stores in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, 32,000 employees and annual sales of 5.4 billion euros (4.7 billion pounds).

(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi; Writing by Tom Sims. Editing by Jane Merriman)