Arcandor hopes poor asset prices will give it a chance of holding on to its majority stake in Thomas Cook, the UK travel company, in spite of most of the shares being pledged as collateral to its banks.

Karl-Gerhard Eick, Arcandor chief executive, said he considered Thomas Cook a “tremendous asset” that would add to the “proposition for investors” should the German retailer be able to restructure while under protection from creditors.