German food retailer Metro AG on Sept. 2 said it sold 11 Cash & Carry stores in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic for over €250 million in a sale-and-leaseback transaction.
Metro's real estate arm, Metro Properties, sold the stores to asset manager FLE GmbH, a subsidiary of France's LFPI Group. LFPI bought the properties on behalf of an alternative investment fund.
The sale was completed in August, the company said.
According to the terms of the deal, Metro and its Marko and Cash & Carry brands can continue to operate the properties on the basis of long-term lease contracts, the details of which were not specified.
The retail group said it expects an EBITDA boost of about €180 million in its Metro Wholesale Eastern Europe segment. For fiscal 2018/19, Metro's real estate transactions have generated about €270 million in EBITDA contributions, meeting its target of raising between €250 million and €300 million from such deals for the year.
