Quelle

As discussed ad nauseam in the press during the past few days, Quelle (Arcandor's huge mail-order subsidiary) urgently needs government cash because an obscure bank called Valovis is no longer willing to buy Quelle's customer receivables.

The bizarre bit (and not mentioned at all by most press reports): Valovis is a 100 % subsidiary of the Arcandor pension trust, i.e. is 100% owned by Arcandor's staff! (It used to be a 100 % Arcandor subsidiary, and was sold to the pension trust in 2005.)

(Source: Handelsblatt)