German retailer Metro Group invests $430m in Indonesia

Germany-based retailer Metro Group plans to invest as much as 300 million euros ($430 million) in the next three years to establish 20 wholesale retail outlets in Indonesia, a top executive said on Monday.

“Looking at Indonesia, based on its size and current GDP development, I think it is the perfect time for us to come,” said Frans W.H. Muller, chief executive of the Asian division of Metro’s wholesale chain Metro Cash & Carry and a member of Metro Group’s management board.

The company plans to open six Metro Cash & Carry stores in major cities across Bali and Java by next year.

Each store will have between 5,000 and 7,000 square meters of sales space at an investment of between 10 million and 15 million euros, Muller said.

He declined to specify where the six stores would be located.

The company plans to hire some 4,500 local workers and set up a training center, said Bunny Khurana, managing director for Metro Group Indonesia.

Metro Group will partner with the Jakarta-based Sintesa Group ­— an affiliate of the publicly traded Tigaraksa Satria —for the company’s expansion into Indonesia. The partnership with Sintesa Group, which handles the sale and distribution of retail goods, will help Metro Group understand the local market, Muller said.

“The market in Indonesia is big and complex, so to make sure we understand the market better we need to work together with a local partner,” Muller said. “We want to understand the customers, real estate, logistics and distribution better and Sintesa has strong experience in this area.”

Aside from offering services to retail customers, Metro Cash & Carry will offer business-to-business wholesale services for hotels, restaurants, caterers, cafes and small grocery stores, Muller said.

Metro Group runs five department, retail and electronic chains in 34 countries, including locations in China, Japan and Vietnam. The company broke into the international market in 1997 with stores in the Czech Republic.

The company grew out of the 1996 merger of three German retailers to become one of the largest publicly traded companies in the country, according to the company’s Web site.


Source: thejakartaglobe.com