Karstadt throws itself at Metro

The German companies Arcandor and Metro are holding talks about a possible merger of their department store chains Karstadt and Kaufhof. Arcandor has warned of insolvency if the German government refuses to grant an emergency loan of 437 million euros. The conservative daily Die Welt writes: "The merger could finally tackle overcapacities on the market. Merging the two department store chains will cost jobs, there's no doubt about it. But presumably the jobs that remain in the new company will be more secure than in a permanently ailing Karstadt AG under Arcandor. Karstadt's mother company will hardly be able to say no if it doesn't want to risk losing everything. Because you can't start making demands if you can't even pay your rent."

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