Retail group Metro plans to sell supermarket chain Real

The German retail group Metro wants to get rid of Real, its supermarket chain. With 279 stores and 36,000 employees, Real is still producing €7bn in sales, but it’s produced a string of losses in recent years. X+ Brick AG and the Redos Group are two potential investors believed to be in the running take over the supermarket chain. Both companies have offered over €900 million for the chain. "The process of selling is now entering a hot phase,” Metro boss Olaf Koch told the German economic daily Handelsblatt. “The talks are constructive, but the results are still open,” he said, indicated the plan was to complete a deal by June “at the latest.”