BERLIN: The board of retail and tourism giant Arcandor was holding an emergency meeting to save the company and its 50,000 workers in Germany, a spokesman said Tuesday, after Berlin rejected its bid for aid.

The group -- major shareholder in travel agency Thomas Cook and owner of department store chain Karstadt -- has been lurching towards insolvency as Germany's deepest recession in six decades hammers consumers.

An Arcandor spokesman said that managers would attempt to improve their request for millions of euros (dollars) in loan guarantees and emergency funding and the results of the meeting should emerge later on Tuesday.

On Monday, Berlin dismissed the company's request for 650 million euros in state loan guarantees and 437 million euros in emergency loans but gave the firm one last chance to submit an improved request.

Berlin wants the group's executives to play a larger role in the firm's rescue before handing out government money less than four months before a national election.