German real estate investor Redos Real Estate GmbH has notified antitrust bodies about its plan to buy Metro AG's loss-making Real hypermarket chain, Reuters reported Oct. 2, citing people close to the matter.
Metro declined to comment, while Redos did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the news agency said.
The German hypermarket operator was in exclusive talks with a Redos-led group for the sale of Real in May. However, the negotiations were stalled after a consortium comprising investment firms The SCP Group and x+bricks AG revised its offer to include total cash proceeds of "significantly above" €500 million to Metro.
Prior to the exclusive negotiations between Metro and Redos, x+bricks was also shortlisted for the sale.
Czech investor Daniel Kretinsky, who failed in his bid to acquire Metro via his acquisition vehicle EP Global, reportedly said the company's price for Real was too low.
According to a Reuters report in April that cited German business paper Handelsblatt, Metro could cough up €200 million just to sell off Real.
