"It's brutally difficult for me": Metro boss resigns prematurely

An era is coming to an end at the Metro retail group: Long-time Metro boss Koch is turning his back on the wholesaler and is not extending his contract, which runs until March 2022. The supervisory board will deal with the matter in the short term, it says.

The wholesale group Metro has to look for a new boss. Long-time CEO Olaf Koch informed the chairman of the supervisory board Jürgen Steinemann that he did not want to extend his contract, which expired in March 2022, said Metro. Koch wants to leave the board by the end of the year. The supervisory board will now deal with the personnel "at short notice". "It's brutally difficult for me – but it's the right step at the right moment," said Koch.

Metro AG 8.46

In 2012, Koch had moved to the head of what was then Metro and converted the widely branched and highly indebted group into a pure wholesaler – and reduced the debt by over seven billion euros. Among other things, he had sold the department store giant Kaufhof, spun off the electronics retail chains Media Markt and Saturn under the Ceconomy holding company. Most recently, Metro finally parted with the Real supermarket chain last April.

"With the completion of the Real transaction, we succeeded in what we set out to do – to concentrate on wholesale in a modern form," said Koch. He relies on the business with hoteliers and restaurateurs and their delivery. But in the Corona crisis, Metro was also able to score points with traditional wholesalers in the markets. The manager had not only made friends with his course, there were repeated protests from employees, especially in connection with the sale of Real.

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Koch has been the head of the MDax Group since 2012. He gradually converted Metro into a pure wholesaler.

(Photo: picture alliance / dpa)

Metro was also the target of a takeover attempt during Koch's tenure. The Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky tried to buy the Düsseldorf wholesaler together with his investment partner Patrik Tkac. The plans failed last year. Kretinsky had then stated that he now saw the board of directors around Koch on the train to screw up the share price of the Metro. To this end, he expects numerous initiatives from the Executive Board. He holds almost 30 percent of the shares through his holding company EPGC.

Koch said his move had "nothing to do with EPGC, nor are they informed yet". "There was neither pressure nor signals from you. The cooperation was professional, there have been no frictions in the past few months," emphasized the outgoing Metro boss.

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