Kirkland Advises EP Global Commerce II on Acquisition of approx. 9 Percent of Stakes in METRO AG from CECONOMY AG

Kirkland & Ellis advised EP Global Commerce II GmbH (EPGC II) on the acquisition of a further substantial holding in METRO AG, this time from CECONOMY AG (CECONOMY). CECONOMY agreed with EPGC II on the acquisition of 3.6 percent of METRO AG's ordinary shares and a structured call and put option regarding another 5.4 percent. The transaction values at approx. 450 million Euro at METRO shares’ closing price as of 19 September 2018. The purchase price was not disclosed. The transaction is still subject to clearance by the antitrust authorities.

Since the division of METRO Group into METRO AG and CECONOMY AG, METRO AG has concentrated on the areas of wholesale, food distribution and retail. This is mainly done by the sales divisions METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry with 760 wholesale markets in 25 countries and Real with more than 280 hypermarkets throughout Germany.

CECONOMY is the leading European platform for companies, concepts and brands in the field of consumer electronics. The companies in the current CECONOMY portfolio includes for instance MediaMarkt and Saturn as well as innovative marketing providers.

Indirect owners of EPGC II are again the Czech entrepreneur Daniel Křetínský, shareholder, chairman and CEO of Energetický a průmyslový holding, a.s., a leading energy and infrastructure group in Europe, and the Slovak entrepreneur Patrik Tkáč, co-owner of the J&T group, an international financial and private banking service provider and investor group.

The Kirkland team was led by transactional partners Benjamin Leyendecker and Achim Herfs and associates Christoph Jerger and Philip Goj, and capital markets partner Anna Schwander.