The CEO-designate at German retail giant Metro has indicated that the company will not sell off its Real hypermarkets business.

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Eckhard Cordes, head of a key investor in Metro, is set to take the top job at the retailer and has set about meeting employee concerns over the future of the business.


Cordes – who is CEO of German industrial holding firm Franz Haniel, which holds a 34.2% stake in Metro – told the company’s workers in a letter that his main priority would be getting the Real business “on track”.


A spokesman for Metro confirmed the existence of the letter but declined to comment further.


Cordes’ comments seem to head off speculation that he could break up the business. Cordes is set to replace Joachim Körber, who will leave Metro next month after 22 years at the company.

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just-food understands that Cordes and Körber clashed over business strategy.


Cordes and Körber are believed not to have agreed on how to take Metro forward and that tension is said to have prompted Körber’s decision to leave the company.