28.07.2008

Essen, Germany July 28, 2008.  Arcandor AG, Essen, has successfully concluded the disposal of its department store real estate.
Today, Monday, the 49 percent stake in the Highstreet property company has been taken over by the consortium made up of RREEF Alternative Investments (subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG), Pirelli Real Estate, Generali Real Estate Fund S. A. and the Borletti Group. The value of the transaction consisting of the above disposal of the stake in Highstreet and a separate contractual agreement with the former joint venture partner Whitehall remains approximately EUR 800 million. Overall, Arcandor AG generated more then EUR 4.5 billion for its department store real estate.
This successfully concludes what is currently the largest and most complex real estate transaction in Germany, despite the very difficult market conditions.
In 2006, Thomas Middelhoff, the Chairman of the Management Board, initiated the disposal process for the department store real estate so as to eliminate Group debt effectively.

"With this difficult, but successful transaction, a new financial foundation was established for the Group. We made the moves for transforming the Group in time, thus effectively countering the emerging real estate crisis," stated the Chairman of the Arcandor AG Management Board, Dr. Thomas Middelhoff. "At the same time, we succeeded in implementing the acquisition of the majority in the Thomas Cook travel company, important from a strategic perspective, without burdening Arcandor AG additionally. In the process, the company was realigned for the future."

Press contact:
Arcandor AG
Konzernkommunikation
Jörg Howe
Telephone: +49 (0)201 727 25 38
joerg.howe@arcandor.com