B. Altman’s Put Up For Sale: The...

B. Altman’s Put Up For Sale: The troubled L. J. Hooker Corp. put B. Altman & Co. on the auction block and said it intends to sell the seven-unit department store chain as quickly as possible. “Given the cash constraints of L. J. Hooker . . . we believe that a quick sale of Altman’s is in the best interests of all concerned,” said Sanford C. Sigoloff. He is the turnaround specialist who was named chairman of L. J. Hooker in August at the same time the company filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection for certain subsidiaries, including Altman’s. Hooker is the Atlanta-based U.S. subsidiary of Australia’s Hooker Corp., which had invested more than $1 billion in U.S. shopping malls, real estate and retailing during the past three years before high interest rates and a soft Australian real estate market put the company in a financial bind.