KarstadtQuelle Shares Surge Over Rumors

Shares in the troubled German department store chain KarstadtQuelle soared by more than 8 percent on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Wednesday amid rumors the majority shareholder, the Schickedanz family, was planning a full takeover. In early afternoon trading, KarstadtQuelle shares were showing a gain of 0.82 euros or 8.44 percent at 10.53 euros ($12.75). The Schickedanz family, who had amassed a majority stake of 50.01 percent at the end of May, has since bought around 1.19 million further shares or about 0.5 percent of the share capital, KarstadtQuelle revealed on its Web site. As a result, funds were making big purchases on the open market in anticipation that the Schickedanz family was planning a complete takeover, traders said.