Metro rejects takeover offer

Author: Mario Schmidtgen
Date: 31.07.2019

Major shareholders want more voting rights

Metro has rejected the takeover offer of six billion euros made by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. This decision was supported by the two major shareholders, the Beisheim Group and the Meridian Foundation.

The two shareholders have a combined voting right of around 20.55 percent in the trading group. The major shareholders intend to exercise these voting rights jointly in the future and plan to “expand them further step by step” when the opportunity arises. This was announced by Metro.

The intention was “to present a united front to Metro AG and its other shareholders in all material matters and thus ensure a positive further development of Metro AG in the future”. The major shareholders are therefore against the takeover of Kretinsky.

The offer by the Czech holding company was considered as too low by the management and supervisory boards and rejected on Wednesday. In addition, the trading group advised its shareholders to not sell their shares. Nevertheless, Group CEO Olaf Koch commented: “We are open to changes in the shareholder structure”.