METRO Group plans to invest EUR one billion in Russian economy over next five years

METRO Group is planning to invest up to EUR 1 billion in the Russian economy over the next five years. As METRO Group CEO Hans-Joachim Koerber told journalists in Nizhni Novgorod yesterday, the company plans to develop cash and carry wholesale stores in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and also start operating in the other regions.

Over the next eighteen months, for example, a store will open in Nizhni Novgorod. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, construction of the wholesale store was discussed at a meeting between Mr Koerber and First Deputy Governor of the Region Yuri Sentiurin yesterday. Mr Sentiurin said the store will provide about 500 new employment vacancies as well as low-priced goods.

METRO Group is the third largest trading group in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. It was founded in 1996 by the merger of three companies - METRO Cash & Carry, Kaufhof Holding and Asko Deutsche Kaufhaus. It has been operating in Russia since 2000 and now the company has four wholesale stores in Moscow and two in Saint Petersburg. Total sales came to EUR 51.5 billion in 2002.

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