The doors opened at Bloomingdale's and other U.S. subsidiaries of Campeau Corp. last week, but it was hardly business as usual. After months of financial turmoil, the Toronto-based company placed its 257 American stores under bankruptcy court protection. The 6,000-page petition listed $7.5 billion of debt. Campeau renamed the U.S. operations Federated Stores Inc.; former Federal Reserve Board Chairman G. William Miller was named chairman of the unit.
The moves were the latest in a takeover saga that began when Canadian developer Robert Campeau acquired Allied Stores and Federated Department Stores for $10.2 billion in the 1980s. The bankruptcy filing will...