Dr Henning Klöppelt joins Galeria Kaufhof as Chief Real Estate Officer (CREO)

Galeria Kaufhof will change its corporate structure as part of the general integration of real estate assets into METRO GROUP’s sales lines resolved by the Management Board of METRO AG last year. Under the umbrella of a joint holding (to operate under the name GALERIA Holding GmbH), the department store business of GALERIA Kaufhof GmbH and its subsidiaries as well as the complete real estate portfolio of Galeria Kaufhof will be combined.

GALERIA Holding GmbHwill consist of two pillars: the modern multichannel department store business of GALERIA Kaufhof GmbH and the real estate portfolio comprising 59 real estate properties with a total area of more than 760,000 square metres managed by the new subsidiary GALERIA Real EstateHolding GmbH. The aim is to achieve an efficient co-operation and co-ordination between the department store operations and the real estate activities geared to meet customer needs. The task of the real estate management is to realise the earnings and value enhancement potentials of the properties’ portfolio owned and operated by Galeria Kaufhof.

The management of GALERIA Holding GmbH is composed of the two long-standing Kaufhof managers Lovro Mandac (CEO) and Thomas Fett (CFO), who will in addition also continue to exercise their functions as managing directors ofGALERIA Kaufhof GmbH, and Dr Henning Klöppelt, who took on the management ofGaleria Kaufhof’s real estate portfolio as Chief Real Estate Officer (CREO) as of 15 April 2014. In his last position, the real estate expert served as the spokesman of the management board of Warburg – Henderson Kapitalanlagegesellschaft für Immobilien mbH.

“The new structure offers the unique opportunity of combining the strengths of our department store business with the potential of our real estate assets. We are pleased to have Henning Klöppelt on board as a very experienced manager for the management of the real estate portfolio”, says Mark Frese, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of GALERIA Kaufhof GmbH. “With his know-how, we will continue to consistently develop our real estate portfolio to benefit the operational business”.

“The unique real estate portfolio of GALERIA Real Estate Holding GmbH comprises prime locations in German city centres. This is a great opportunity for me to contribute to the further development of the department store operations also from the real estate side”, said Henning Klöppelt explaining his transfer toGALERIA Holding GmbH.

METRO GROUP is one of the largest and most important international retailing companies. During the financial year 2012/13 (pro forma), it generated sales of about €66 billion. The company operates around 2,200 stores in 32 countries and has a headcount of around 265,000 employees. The performance of METRO GROUP is based on the strength of its sales brands that operate independently in their respective market segments:METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry – the international leader in self-service wholesale – Media Marktand Saturn – the European market leader in consumer electronics retailing – Real hypermarkets and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.