Metro Group CEO Eckhard Cordes no longer has the backing of a key shareholder in the German retailer, just-food understands.
Franz Haniel, the head of Haniel, which owns 34% of Metro, has told Cordes he has lost the support of the family-owned German conglomerate, a source told just-food today (14 September).
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“There has been a discussion between Mr Haniel and Mr Cordes concerning his contract and Mr Haniel has told him that there is no support from the Haniel family,” the source said.
According to German magazine Der Spiegel, Dr Cordes contract is due to expire next October.
The report from Der Spiegel said Cordes had fallen out of favour with Haniel because of a disagreement over management and shareholder rights at Metro’s consumer electronics unit MediaMarkt-Saturn. The report also said there have been concerns that he has failed to find a buyer for Metro’s department store unit Kaufhof, as well as hypermarket chain Real.
When contacted by just-food today, Haniel declined to comment on the discussions concerning Cordes because this is seen as a matter for the Metro board.
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By GlobalData“We are not going to influence or to comment on the discussion concerning Mr Cordes as the CEO of Metro due to the fact that this is a topic of the supervisory board of Metro,” a spokesperson for Haniel said.
Metro has so far declined to comment.
