DUESSELDORF, April 12 (Reuters) - Thai retailer Central

Group has acquired the landmark KaDeWe property in central

Berlin from the insolvent Austrian company Signa in what it said

was another step towards buying the group.

Central said in a statement on Friday that it was

optimistic about talks to acquire the entire KaDeWe Group, which

includes Alsterhaus in Hamburg, and Oberpollinger in Munich.

The Thai retailer already holds a 50.1% majority stake

in the group.

"The acquisition of the KaDeWe building is the first

important milestone for us in the attempt to restore and

restructure the KaDeWe Group operating company towards a

sustainable, financially viable business," said Vittorio Radice,

board member of Central Group Europe, in a statement.

The insolvent Signa Prime, which owns shares in the

KaDeWe luxury department stores, declined to comment.

The purchase price for the building, a popular tourist

destination in Berlin, was reported by the German business daily

Handelsblatt at roughly 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion).

Central did not say how much it paid for the property.

Signa, the property empire founded by tycoon Rene Benko,

has been one of the biggest casualties of Europe's real estate

crisis, with creditors filing claims worth billions of euros.

The group's holding company, which sits at the centre of

a web of hundreds of firms, has declared insolvency, as have its

two most important units, Signa Prime and Signa Development.

($1 = 0.9369 euros)