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METRO Group acquires Wal-Mart Germany

28.07.2006

METRO Group acquires Wal-Mart Germany

METRO Group will take over the German operations of US retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and thereby clearly strengthen the market position of its hypermarket business Real. The acquisition of 85 hypermarkets enables an ideal extension of Real’s current store network and also provides significant synergy effects in the fields of procurement, logistics and administration.

"With this acquisition we complement our store network and increase our power in the German market", said Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, CEO of the METRO AG, on Friday. "Through the strengthening of our market presence we will generate noticeable synergy effects. It is also a clear commitment that we believe in the hypermarket business as an effective sales format."

METRO Group acquires all 85 hypermarkets of Wal-Mart Germany which generated with more than 11.000 employees sales of around € 2 bn. in 2005. 19 of the locations are held by freehold and the remaining ones by leasehold.

With the takeover Real will reach a very effective coverage of the German market. The company is aiming for a rapid integration of the new stores into the Real concept and branding.

The takeover has already been approved by the supervisory board of METRO AG, but remains subject to the approval by the anti-trust authorities. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The transaction is not included in the METRO Group sales and earnings outlook for 2006. In 2006 METRO Group will derive a one-off positive earnings effect.

With currently 550 hyper- and supermarkets Real belongs to the leading food retailers in Germany. At the same time, the company is also pushing its international expansion. After Poland and Turkey a couple of years ago, Real recently opened its first stores in Russia and Romania. Moreover, the company just announced the planned takeover of the Polish hypermarket activities of French retailer Géant.

METRO Group ranks among the largest international retailers. In 2005 it achieved sales of € 55.7 billion. The company is active in 30 countries at more than 2,100 locations and employs a workforce of around 250,000 employees. The performance capability of the METRO Group is based on the strength of its sales brands, which are acting independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry – world market leader in self-service wholesale, Real hypermarkets and Extra supermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in European consumer electronics centers – and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.

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