Shares in German retail heavyweight Metro, which owns Saturn electrical stores, have jumped 9% to EUR 26.80 after it revealed plans to split into two companies that will be separately listed on the stock market, The Financial Times reported.
The group`s current brands, which also include Metro Cash & Carry, will be divided along two lines: one of the new companies will be a wholesale and food specialist group, while the second will be a consumer electronics business, according to a report.
The separation is expected to complete in the middle of next year.
Metro, which used to also own the well-known department store chain, Galeria Kaufhof, but sold it to Canada`s Hudson`s Bay last year, said the demerger would allow each business to grow quicker, according to The Financial Times.
The wholesale and food business would be run by Metro`s current chief executive, Olaf Koch, while it is proposed that Peter Hass, chief executive of Media-Saturn, takes the helm of the consumer electronics business.
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