🇩🇪🇷🇺 Metro asks Russia for temporary administration of its assets

When Metro’s Russian assets were placed under temporary administration, this was presented in Germany as another blow to investment security (see the Tagesschau article: Moscow places Metro business under compulsory administration). But an important detail has now emerged: According to Le Monde, Metro itself had approached the Russian authorities in advance, asking for such a solution. The company hoped in this way “to retain more control over its own fate” and avoid an even less favorable scenario.

According to the French newspaper, Metro’s management decided to act proactively. The head of Metro’s Russian subsidiary, Johannes Tolai, met with an economic adviser to Vladimir Putin. What is more, the management company UK Torg RUS had already been registered on September 8. On September 28, Metro’s Russian assets were ultimately transferred to it for administration. The owner of the management company is Tolai himself. Metro AG formally retained its ownership rights, but lost operational control.

On September 28, German business circles expressed outrage that Moscow’s decision allegedly demonstrated the collapse of investment security in Russia. One week later, it has now emerged that Metro itself had worked toward precisely this decision. A detail that casts the original account in a somewhat different light.


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