METRO AG
Company Overview
METRO AG is a German Aktiengesellschaft (stock corporation) recorded in the Commercial Register (Handelsregister) at the Düsseldorf local court under number HRB 79055, with its registered office at Metro-Strasse 1, 40235 Düsseldorf. The company’s status in the register is currently active.
The record on file for this profile shows an incorporation date of 1 January 1997. This date could not be independently verified and should be treated with caution. Public sources indicate the legal entity now trading as METRO AG has a more recent origin: on 30 March 2016 the former METRO Group announced a demerger into two independent, separately listed companies. The wholesale and food business was carried forward under the newly formed METRO Wholesale & Food Specialist AG, which was entered in the Commercial Register under its current name, METRO AG, on 18 August 2017. The demerged consumer-electronics business (MediaMarkt/Saturn) retained the pre-existing legal entity and was renamed CECONOMY AG. Zavia has not located a primary registry source confirming a 1997 incorporation for the entity now holding HRB 79055, and this figure should not be relied on as fact pending direct registry confirmation.
Business Activities
METRO AG is an international wholesale and food-specialist group serving hotels, restaurants, caterers, independent retailers, trade professionals and other business customers (the “HoReCa” and trade segment). It operates self-service cash-and-carry stores and food and non-food wholesale delivery businesses principally under the METRO and MAKRO brands, together with digital ordering and delivery services for professional customers. Reported operations span multiple European countries and additional markets in Asia and elsewhere, organised through country-level operating subsidiaries.
Stock-Exchange History and Listing Status
Following the 2017 demerger, METRO AG shares were admitted to trading on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and were, at various points, included in Deutsche Börse’s MDAX and later SDAX indices. This listing ended in 2025: on 5 February 2025 METRO AG and EP Global Commerce GmbH (“EPGC”), a holding company linked to Czech investor Daniel Křetínský, signed an agreement providing for a public delisting acquisition offer by EPGC. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange approved the delisting application, and regular trading in METRO AG shares on the regulated market ended after 16 April 2025. EPGC subsequently launched further voluntary public acquisition offers in 2025 for shareholders who had not tendered during the delisting offer. As a result, METRO AG shares are no longer traded on a German regulated market. Further detail on the resulting ownership position is set out in the shareholders section of this profile.
Recent Developments
- 16 April 2025 — regular trading in METRO AG shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange regulated market ended following the EPGC delisting offer.
- Fiscal year 2024/25 (ended 30 September 2025) — METRO AG reported consolidated group sales of approximately EUR 32.4 billion, up from approximately EUR 31.0 billion in fiscal year 2023/24. These are consolidated group figures published in METRO’s annual report and should not be read as figures for any single subsidiary.
- 23 September 2026 — METRO AG announced that Dr Steffen Greubel will step down as Chairman of the Management Board (CEO) with effect from 30 September 2026, at his own request, to be succeeded by Eric Riegger, previously Chief Financial Officer, effective 1 October 2026.
Sources: https://www.handelsregister.de; https://newsroom.metroag.de/en/news/2017/07/12/demerger-of-metro-group-completed; https://newsroom.metroag.de/en/news/metro-ag-recorded-in-the-commercial-register?dt=20170818; https://newsroom.metroag.de/en/news/metro-and-epgc-sign-agreement-on-delisting-of-metro-ag?dt=20250205; https://newsroom.metroag.de/en/news/delisting-of-metro-ag-shares?dt=20250416; https://newsroom.metroag.de/de/news/dr-steffen-greubel-gibt-den-vorsitz-des-vorstands-der-metro-ag?dt=20260923. Retrieved 25 September 2026.
- Company fundamentals
- Corporate linkage & group structures
- Digitized company financials
- Firmographics — websites, social profiles, revenue and employee estimates
Shareholders
2
Shareholders of METRO AG
The shareholder data stored in Zavia’s underlying dataset for this profile lists only two records: an Invesco exchange-traded fund vehicle shown at roughly 96% and Pacer Advisors, Inc. at roughly 4%. These figures represent only the two records captured in a small data sample and sum to 100% of that sample, not of METRO AG’s actual issued share capital. They are index-tracking asset managers holding routine, passive minority positions and are not evidence of control. This sample should not be read as a statement of METRO AG’s real ownership structure, which is materially different and is summarised below from public disclosures.
METRO AG was, until its 2025 delisting, subject to German securities law major-shareholding notification requirements (WpHG) supervised by BaFin. Public disclosures and the company’s own announcements identify the following as the principal shareholders in the period around the 2025 delisting:
- EP Global Commerce GmbH (“EPGC”), a holding company linked to Czech investor Daniel Křetínský, reported to directly hold approximately 24.99% of METRO AG’s share capital and voting rights at the time the delisting agreement was signed (5 February 2025).
- BC Equities GmbH & Co. KG, Beisheim Holding GmbH and Palatin Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH — described by METRO AG and EPGC as “anchor shareholders,” which entered into a non-tender agreement with EPGC and together held approximately 24.99% of share capital and voting rights, giving the EPGC-led group a combined position reported at approximately 49.99% as of the February 2025 agreement.
- The remaining shares were held in free float, including institutional and retail investors.
Public reporting on WpHG voting-rights notifications indicates that Křetínský’s holdings (together with associated parties) crossed the 50% voting-rights threshold on 2 April 2025. Following the delisting offer and subsequent voluntary acquisition offers run by EPGC between May and September 2025, media reporting (not independently confirmed by Zavia against a primary regulatory filing) put EPGC’s direct holding at approximately two-thirds of METRO AG’s shares by mid-2025. Zavia has not located a dated, primary-source WpHG notification confirming an exact percentage after September 2025 and treats any figure above roughly 50% as indicative rather than confirmed.
Ultimate beneficial ownership
Daniel Křetínský is publicly identified as the controlling individual behind EP Global Commerce GmbH, METRO AG’s largest and controlling shareholder. Zavia has not located an official beneficial-ownership register filing (e.g. German Transparenzregister extract) stating an exact effective percentage attributable to Křetínský personally, and the ownership chain between Křetínský and EPGC’s holding vehicles was not fully traced from primary filings for this profile. Accordingly, Křetínský is reported here as the identified controlling person behind METRO AG’s largest shareholder, without a calculated effective percentage. The information date for this position is April–September 2025, based on the sources cited below.
Data availability
Germany discloses major shareholdings above regulatory thresholds through WpHG notifications while a company is listed; this is a “major shareholders only” level of disclosure rather than a complete shareholder register, and disclosure obligations changed once METRO AG’s shares stopped trading on a regulated market in April 2025. The stored sample dataset for this profile is not representative of METRO AG’s actual shareholder base and should not be used for KYB purposes.
Sources
- METRO AG Newsroom, “METRO and EPGC sign agreement on delisting of METRO AG,” 5 February 2025 — https://newsroom.metroag.de/en/news/metro-and-epgc-sign-agreement-on-delisting-of-metro-ag?dt=20250205
- METRO AG Newsroom, “Delisting of METRO AG shares,” 16 April 2025 — https://newsroom.metroag.de/en/news/delisting-of-metro-ag-shares?dt=20250416
- METRO AG Newsroom, “EPGC publishes new acquisition offer,” 27 May 2025 — https://newsroom.metroag.de/en/news/epgc-publishes-new-acquisition-offer?dt=20250527
- EP Global Commerce, press releases — https://www.epglobalcommerce.com/press-releases/
Retrieved 25 September 2026.
Registry feed — rows exactly as filed with Handelsregister (Commercial Register), including entries the profile above does not cover.
| Shareholder | Type | Holding | Source Document |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invesco Exch-Trd Fd. TRT II-Invesco RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. Sma | 96% | Handelsregister (Commercial Register) | |
| Pacer Advisors, Inc. | 4% | Handelsregister (Commercial Register) |
Officers
81
Directors and officers of METRO AG
Zavia’s underlying dataset for this profile contains 81 officer records sourced from German commercial-register filings, of which 13 are flagged as active and 68 as resigned; a further data-quality inconsistency was found in that only 52 of the 81 records carry an explicit resignation date, meaning some records marked “resigned” cannot be dated precisely from this dataset alone. Most records use a generic role label of “Officer,” which in the German Handelsregister context typically corresponds to Prokuristen (holders of commercial power of attorney) and other registered representatives rather than to Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) membership; Aufsichtsrat members are generally not entered in the commercial register and are not represented in this dataset.
Cross-checked against METRO AG’s own public disclosures, the current Management Board (Vorstand) as of September 2026 is reported to comprise:
- Dr Steffen Greubel — Chairman of the Management Board (CEO), appointed 11 May 2021; stepping down effective 30 September 2026 at his own request.
- Eric Riegger — Chief Financial Officer; a Management Board member since February 2024; appointed to succeed Dr Greubel as Chairman of the Management Board (CEO) effective 1 October 2026, while retaining CFO responsibilities.
- Christiane Giesen — Chief Operating Officer and Labour Director (Arbeitsdirektorin), appointed 29 September 2022.
- Guillaume Deruyter — Chief Customer and Merchandise Officer.
The Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) is chaired by Roman Šilha, who succeeded long-serving chairman Jürgen B. Steinemann. Supervisory Board composition is disclosed by METRO AG separately from the commercial-register officer data and was not cross-verified in full for this profile; readers requiring the complete current Supervisory Board roster should consult METRO AG’s own governance disclosures.
Nationality is not disclosed in the underlying dataset for any officer and has not been inferred from name, address or country of residence; where not officially disclosed, it is reported here as “Not disclosed.” Registered correspondence addresses in the dataset are service addresses only and are not used to infer residence or nationality.
Recent officer changes
- CEO succession — Dr Steffen Greubel to step down as Chairman of the Management Board on 30 September 2026; Eric Riegger (CFO) appointed as successor effective 1 October 2026 (source: METRO AG Newsroom, 23 September 2026).
- Management Board contract extension — Eric Riegger’s Management Board appointment, originally from February 2024, has been extended by the Supervisory Board to run to 31 December 2030.
- Supervisory Board chairmanship — Roman Šilha succeeded Jürgen B. Steinemann as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Data availability
Germany’s commercial register discloses Management Board members and Prokura holders with appointment dates, but does not publish Supervisory Board membership, nationality or country of residence; these fields are marked “Not disclosed” in this profile where no authoritative source was found. The commercial-register extract underlying this dataset shows an unusually large number of historical entries (81) for a single company, consistent with a multi-year filing history rather than the current headcount of active officers.
Sources
- Handelsregister (German Commercial Register) — https://www.handelsregister.de
- METRO AG Newsroom, “Dr. Steffen Greubel gibt den Vorsitz des Vorstands der METRO AG zum 30. September 2026 auf eigenen Wunsch ab,” 23 September 2026 — https://newsroom.metroag.de/de/news/dr-steffen-greubel-gibt-den-vorsitz-des-vorstands-der-metro-ag?dt=20260923
- METRO AG corporate website, “About us” / governance pages — https://www.metroag.de/en/about-us
Retrieved 25 September 2026.
Registry feed — rows exactly as filed with Handelsregister (Commercial Register), including entries the profile above does not cover.
Group Structure
Group structure of METRO AG
METRO AG is the publicly registered holding company at the head of an international wholesale and food-specialist group. It is not itself a subsidiary of another operating company; its share capital is, since 2025, majority-controlled by EP Global Commerce GmbH and associated anchor shareholders (see the shareholders section of this profile for that upstream ownership position). This section covers METRO AG’s own downstream group of operating entities.
The corporate-linkage data captured for this profile lists 239 group entities associated with METRO AG across approximately 38 countries. This is consistent with a large, internationally operating wholesale group and is summarised here by region rather than listed individually. Ownership percentages for individual entities are not disclosed in the underlying dataset (“Ownership percentage not disclosed”) and have not been independently recalculated for this profile; the figures below are entity counts, not ownership stakes.
Verified corporate relationships (regional summary)
| Region / country grouping | Approx. entity count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Germany (DE) | 92 | Domestic holding, service and operating entities at the group’s home base. |
| Central & Eastern Europe (PL, CZ, SK, RO, BG, HU, RS, BA, HR, UA, MD) | ~52 | Cash-and-carry and wholesale delivery operations; Poland (32) is the largest single country after Germany. |
| Western & Southern Europe (NL, FR, ES, IT, PT, BE, CH, AT) | ~48 | Includes the Netherlands (15) and France (13), consistent with METRO’s European wholesale footprint. |
| United Kingdom (GB) | 7 | |
| Russia (RU) | 7 | Legacy operating entities; current operating status not independently verified for this profile. |
| Asia-Pacific (HK, CN, VN, PK, IN, JP, MY, SG, MM, ID, MO) | ~21 | Includes Hong Kong (6), reflecting regional sourcing and holding entities. |
| Other (TR, EG, MC, SE, NO) | ~9 |
Relationship types (parent/subsidiary/branch) and precise ownership percentages for each entity were not individually re-verified against local registries for this profile; the structure should be treated as “Partial” — the existence and country of group entities is captured, but not a fully verified ownership chain for every entity.
Recent structural changes
No individually verified 2025–2026 acquisition, disposal or reorganisation affecting specific group subsidiaries was identified from primary sources for this profile, beyond the change of controlling shareholder described in the shareholders section (delisting agreement with EP Global Commerce GmbH, effective from April 2025).
Data availability
The group-structure information available for this profile is partial: it confirms the existence, name and country of 239 linked entities but does not include verified ownership percentages or relationship classifications for each one. It should not be treated as a complete or currently verified corporate-structure chart.
Sources
- Zavia corporate-linkage dataset for METRO AG (internal; entity-level percentages not disclosed).
- METRO AG corporate website — https://www.metroag.de/en/about-us
Retrieved 25 September 2026.
Registry feed — rows exactly as filed with Handelsregister (Commercial Register), including entries the profile above does not cover.
METRO AG
Germany
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does METRO AG do?
METRO AG is a German Aktiengesellschaft (HRB 79055, Düsseldorf) operating an international wholesale and food-specialist business under the METRO and MAKRO brands, serving hotels, restaurants, caterers, independent retailers and other professional customers through cash-and-carry stores and delivery services.
Who owns METRO AG?
The dataset sample of two institutional index-fund holders (Invesco, Pacer Advisors) is not representative of actual ownership. Public disclosures identify EP Global Commerce GmbH (EPGC) as holding approximately 24.99% directly as of February 2025, with anchor shareholders BC Equities, Beisheim Holding and Palatin Verwaltungsgesellschaft holding a further approximately 24.99% under a non-tender agreement, for a combined reported position of approximately 49.99% at that date; media reports (unconfirmed against a primary filing) suggest EPGC alone held around two-thirds of shares by mid-2025 after further acquisition offers.
Who is METRO AG's UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner)?
Daniel Křetínský is publicly identified as the controlling individual behind EP Global Commerce GmbH, METRO AG's controlling shareholder since the 2025 delisting. Public WpHG-related reporting indicates Křetínský (with associated parties) crossed 50% of voting rights on 2 April 2025. Zavia found no primary beneficial-ownership register filing stating an exact effective percentage attributable to Křetínský personally, so no calculated UBO percentage is presented.
What is METRO AG's company registration number?
METRO AG's registration number is HRB 79055 Düsseldorf, filed with Handelsregister (Commercial Register) in Germany. Its current status on the register is active.
Is METRO AG still an active company?
METRO AG's status on Handelsregister (Commercial Register) is listed as active.
What is METRO AG's registered address?
The registered address on file for METRO AG is Düsseldorf, Germany.
What is METRO AG's revenue?
METRO AG reported consolidated group sales of approximately EUR 32.4 billion for fiscal year 2024/25 (ended 30 September 2025), up from approximately EUR 31.0 billion in fiscal year 2023/24. These are consolidated group figures, not figures for a single legal entity.
Is METRO AG listed on a stock exchange?
METRO AG shares were listed on the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (previously included in MDAX/SDAX) until 16 April 2025, when regular trading ended following a delisting acquisition offer by EP Global Commerce GmbH (EPGC). The shares are no longer traded on a German regulated market.
Who are the officers/directors of METRO AG?
The Management Board (Vorstand) as of September 2026 comprises Dr Steffen Greubel (CEO, stepping down 30 September 2026), Eric Riegger (CFO, becoming CEO from 1 October 2026), Christiane Giesen (COO/Labour Director) and Guillaume Deruyter (Chief Customer and Merchandise Officer). The Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) is chaired by Roman Šilha. Most of the 81 commercial-register officer records reflect historical Prokura holders rather than current board members.
Does METRO AG have a parent company or subsidiaries?
METRO AG heads an international wholesale group with 239 linked entities identified across roughly 38 countries, concentrated in Germany (92), Poland (32), the Netherlands (15) and France (13). Entity-level ownership percentages are not disclosed in the available data, so the structure is reported as a regional summary rather than a fully verified ownership chain.
Can Zavia monitor changes to METRO AG's ownership over time?
This profile reflects a point-in-time snapshot from Handelsregister (Commercial Register). Zavia's monitoring API can track changes to METRO AG's registered shareholders, officers, and group structure going forward, flagging updates as they're filed rather than requiring a manual recheck.
Can I access METRO AG's data through an API?
Yes. Zavia's API connects directly to official government ownership registries across 195 countries and territories, including Germany, so records like METRO AG's registration, shareholder, UBO, and group-structure data can be queried programmatically instead of viewed one page at a time.
Where does this company information come from, and how current is it?
This record is sourced directly from Handelsregister (Commercial Register) and was last synced on 8 September 2026.