Wednesday June 10, 11:52 AM
Metro sees Arcandor as part of new listed group
FRANKFURT (AFP) - The leading German retailer, Metro (Xetra: 725750 - news) , wants to snap up distressed rival Arcandor (Xetra: 627500 - news) and possibly list a new group on the stock exchange, Metro boss Eckhard Cordes said on Wednesday.
"We have a short and medium-term objective to create a large new ensemble and I even think ... it might be possible to list such a company on the market," Cordes told ZDF television.
The private German investment bank Merck Finck said it would "regard a combination as positive."
Arcandor filed for insolvency on Tuesday after failing to obtain state aid under a programme for companies hit by the global economic downturn because it is accused of bad management before the crisis erupted.
It was one of the biggest non-financial failures in Europe since the global financial and economic crisis erupted nearly two years ago.
About 43,000 jobs are at risk, though they do not include staff at the British travel group Thomas Cook, in which Arcandor holds a majority stake of just under 53 percent.
The German retail and tourism group Rewe is said to be interested in buying Thomas Cook should it be put up for sale, but observers doubt Rewe has the financial clout to close a deal.
Thomas Cook chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa said Tuesday it was "business as usual" with his group, which was "a completely independent and separate business" from Arcandor.
In the event of a merger, Metro would regroup its Kaufhof chain with rival Karstadt, owned by Arcandor, and retain about 160 of the combined 200 department stores, Cordes said, creating a dominant German retailer.
"The chief executive spoke not only of a German department store group, but even of a European one," Merck Finck noted.
Following a two-year restructuring, Metro would like to sell most of the combined operation, a spokesman was quoted by the business daily Handelsblatt as saying.
If that does not take place via a public listing of shares, Metro might look for a private investor.
Handelsblatt said Italian retailer Maurizio Borletti, backed by a financial group, could be interested.
"We are currently participating in discussions," Borletti told the newspaper, without providing details.
He owns the Italian chain Rinascente and also holds a minority stake in the French retailer Printemps.
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