By
Reuters
Published
Oct 19, 2009
Download
Download the article
Print
Text size

Arcandor's German mail-order unit Quelle to close

By
Reuters
Published
Oct 19, 2009

FRANKFURT, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The administrator of insolvent retailer Arcandor AG (AROG.DE) has decided to liquidate the group's German mail-order business, Quelle Deutschland, due to a lack of investors, Klaus Hubert Goerg said in a statement on Monday 19 October.



One of the key reasons was that it had been impossible to reach an agreement for the factoring -- banks pay the company upfront for accounts receivable from customers -- of Quelle Deutschland from Jan. 1, the insolvency administrator said.

After intensive talks with several investors, Goerg and the committee of creditors came to the conclusion there was no alternative to a liquidation, he added.

A spokesman for the administrator said it was not clear at this stage how many jobs would be affected by the move. The insolvency administrator planned to inform employees on Tuesday 20 October.

Quelle's parent company, Arcandor, filed for insolvency in June after its request for state aid was rejected. The insolvency administrator tried to find an investor for the whole of Arcandor's Primondo mail-order division.

But in the end, none of the potential investors had made an offer for the whole unit or for Quelle Deutschland, the spokesman said.

There were talks to find an investor for Quelle's business outside of Germany, the spokesman said, adding Primondo's specialty mail order operations, which are excluded from the insolvency filing, would continue to operate independently.

A creditors' meeting is scheduled for Nov. 11 in Essen. (Reporting by Eva Kuehnen; editing by Andre Grenon)

© Thomson Reuters 2024 All rights reserved.