Arcandor’s banks push for the sale of stake in UK travel group Thomas Cook
THE leading banks of insolvent German retailer Arcandor are pushing for a sale of the group’s stake in travel operator Thomas Cook, of which they hold 43.9 per cent as collateral.
Arcandor filed for insolvency in June after its request for state help failed.
Chief executive Karl-Gerhard Eick has been keen to find ways to prevent the group from being broken up. But the departure earlier this month of Horst Piepenburg, who had been hired as a restructuring specialist by Arcandor, sparked speculation as to whether that was still feasible.
Arcandor’s insolvency administrator has appointed two banks to assess separate restructuring solutions for department store unit Karstadt and its mail-order business Primondo. These would not necessarily imply a break-up of the group.
But now the company’s banks are making their own plans.
“It is currently envisaged by the mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) that the most likely outcome would involve a market placing (Thomas Cook), off market sales or some combination of the two,” Royal Bank of Scotland, Commerzbank and BayernLB said in a statement released yesterday. “No course of action has been determined at this stage.”
A spokesman for the administrator said no final decision had been made yet on the issue, and added: “We will continue talks with the banks.”