Metro sells Galeria Kaufhof for €2.83bn

The transaction involves 103 department store, as well as 16 stores Sportarena, 16 shopping centers under the name Galeria Inno and other assets.

Network of department stores Galeria Kaufhof change the owner – the German Metro Group has agreed to sell its retail asset to the Canadian group Hudson’s Bay Company. Hudson’s Bay Company is to buy the Galeria Kaufhof for €2.83bn including debt, in the Canadian group’s first foray into Europe.

The deal gives Hudson’s Bay 103 Galeria Kaufhof stores in Germany, 16 Galeria Inno stores in Belgium and 16 Sportarena stores. 

It is assumed that the company’s headquarters after the sale will retain its residence in Cologne, and the staff of the company will be maintained at 21 500 employees. The transaction will be closed by the end of the third quarter of 2015. After the sale of positive cash flow Metro Group will amount to 1.6 billion euros, net debt will be reduced to 2.7 billion euros.

According to the data on the beginning of in 2015 under the control of Groups Metro there were about 2200 of shops with the location of in 30 countries of the world. The total volume of of sales by results of the last of the financial year amounted to 63 billion euros.