The wholesaler Metro is not preparing to cooperate with the French chain Casino, in which a consortium led by Metro's major shareholder Daniel Kretinsky is seeking a majority stake.

"He has not knocked on our door," said Metro CEO Steffen Greubel in a conference call on Friday when asked whether the Czech investor had contacted Metro about possible synergies with Casino. "There is no active conversation between Mr. Kretinsky and us regarding possible topics in the direction of Casino," the Metro boss emphasized. Kretinsky's EP Global Commerce controls over 45 percent of Metro shares.

There are also major differences in the business model of a wholesaler like Metro and a supermarket chain, said Greubel. Synergies could only be achieved to a very limited extent, if at all. Metro had also withdrawn from purchasing alliances with retail chains in the past, said Greubel. He therefore also sees no possibility for such a purchasing alliance in the case of Casinos.

(Report by Matthias Inverardi; edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).