Austrian Investor Promises Investments, No Job Cuts At Kaufhof-Report

Austrian investor Rene Benko, who is interested in buying Metro AG (MEO.XE) subsidiary Kaufhof, promises significant investments and no job cuts if he takes over the company in an interview in Tagesspiegel Sunday.

In addition to paying the purchase price and carrying out investments already planned by Kaufhof, Benko's bidding consortium wants "to invest around EUR800 million in the next two to three years in German locations [of Kaufhof]," Benko is quoted as saying. Job cuts are "at all not a topic."

Benko, who has been reviewing Kaufhof's books for several weeks, considers the company to be in good shape.

"Not only my feeling but also my finding tells me that Kaufhof is a solid, well-positioned company with a perfect management," Benko is quoted as saying, adding that Kaufhof can be run as an independent company in the long run.

He said that a "very wealthy Austrian industrial family which, however, doesn't want to be named" will soon join his consortium. Beside Benko's Signa-Holding, which has a "significant majority," also the previous Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAH3.XE) chief Wendelin Wiedeking and the Schoeller family are members of the consortium.

Benko, however, doesn't want to enter a price competition for Kaufhof with Karstadt owner Nicolas Berggruen, according to the newspaper. "For sure we don't want Kaufhof at any price," he is quoted as saying. "We have clear price ideas."

Full story: http://www.tagesspiegel.de

-Frankfurt Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 49-69-29725-500.