Phillips de Pury has quietly closed its branch in Cologne and laid off the three employees working there under director Gérard Goodrow, Artforum reports via the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The branch was opened just a year ago. Lacking a sales room, it was intended mostly for previews of material to be sold in New York and to pursue new business. “There may be a lot happening in Berlin,” Goodrow told Art+Auction last year, “but the Rhine is where the money, the collectors, and the galleries are.”

The Süddeutsche writes that things haven't looked good for Phillips since October, when the Russian luxury-goods importer Mercury Group bought up more than 50 percent of the company's shares in what was supposed to be a "strategic partnership" that could lead to auctions being held in Moscow. In the months since, Mercury Group has seen its sales decline along with the health of the global economy, but according to the Süddeutsche, rumors that the company is close to bankruptcy have not been confirmed, and the company has declined to comment on whether more closures and layoffs are expected.