There was a tug of war for months. Now the Metro retail group has finally sealed the sale of its ailing Real supermarket chain.
Düsseldorf (dpa) - The financial investor SCP has agreed with Metro AG on a 100 percent takeover of Real. According to this, a large part of the Real locations will "continue to operate in the long term, either under the Real brand or through other retailers."
The contract is still subject to the approval of the supervisory board of the Russian Sistema PJSFC, which ensures the financing of the acquisition, according to a joint announcement by both companies. Sistema also announced that up to € 263 million would be made available for this. According to its own announcement, Metro expects a net cash inflow of EUR 0.3 billion.
The supermarket chain with 276 real stores, 34,000 employees, 80 real estate and the online shop real.de is effectively on the verge of being broken up. SCP announced that the majority of today's real markets should be sold or split to other retailers. A core of around 50 Real stores will continue to operate under the Real brand for 24 months. So far, according to the communication, SCP assumes that around 30 locations will be closed.
The supermarket chain was most recently the problem child at the Düsseldorf-based retail giant and had caused deep red numbers at Metro in the 2018/19 financial year. The hypermarkets, which are mostly on the green field, have suffered from the changing shopping habits in Germany for years. More and more, customers left the hypermarkets aside and preferred to buy in supermarkets and discounters in their neighborhoods.