Duesseldorf, March 18 - Metro AG will not be broken up as "such a measure would not make sense" for shareholders, the new chief executive of Germany's largest retailer said on Tuesday.
"There will be changes, structural adjustments, portfolio changes," Eckhard Cordes said. "We will acquire companies where it makes sense...and of course portfolio streamlining is not to be ruled out."
Cordes, who joined Nov. 1 and sold Metro's 245 Extra supermarkets in early January, said if Metro's plan to turn around Real in the domestic market did not materialise, it would take the necessary steps to correct that.
"If we fail to restructure Real Germany, we will have to draw the necessary consequences. But we are optimists in the first place," Cordes said.
Cordes said Metro would use its real estate -- which some analysts value at up to 12 billion euros ($18.92 billion) -- as a lever for value creation.
He did not talk about selling property but said Metro's approach to real estate "is geared to securing satisfactory returns for our shareholders in the same way as providing financing facilities for possible future growth, especially in eastern Europe and Asia".
He added that the company's new group strategy unit would look at regions where Metro has not been active so far and evaluate new sales formats.