Retailer Arcandor unveils insolvency of 15 units

The German retail & tourism group Arcandor, which declared insolvency, said 15 subsidiaries employing 6,700 people were also unable to meet payments. The British travel group Thomas Cook, in which Arcandor owns a stake of 53%, was not one of the units concerned. The affected operations are service providers working almost exclusively for Arcandor's dept. store chain Karstadt & mail order companies Quelle & Primondo, it said. The 6,700 staff affected by the decision announced come on top of 43,000 whose posts are already at risk, but it was not sure all would lose jobs. Salaries for the 6,700 would be paid through the month of August, it said, & talks are being held with biggest German retailer, Metro, that might buy Karstadt stores & retain part of its workforce. German Chancellor Merkel told the German industrial federation BDI that "insolvency doesn't have to mean the company or jobs. disappear." Thomas Cook, meanwhile, has insulated from the turmoil at Arcandor, & jobs there aren't believed to be at risk. On Wed., the dominant Arcandor investor, investment bank Sal Oppenheim, said it sold its own 3.7% stake. Oppenheim added it hadn't yet decided whether to sell 24.9% more of the shares owned by its industrial holding company in Arcandor. Shares showed a loss of 0.15% to 0.68 euros in trade on the Frankfurt exchange, while the MDAX index on which they are listed was off 1.33%. Its other major shareholder, billionaire Madeleine Schickedanz, already said she doesn