The SCP Group and x+bricks AG agreed to acquire Real GmbH from Metro AG (XTRA:B4B) for an enterprise value of €1 billion on February 11, 2020. The SCP Group and x+bricks AG entered into an agreement to acquire Real GmbH from Metro AG on February 14, 2020. In a related transaction, Sistema Finance S.A., wholly owned by Sistema Public Joint Stock Financial Corporation (MISX:AFKS), entered into an equity commitment agreement with The SCP Group to provide financing in the amount of up to €263 million. In turn, LBBW contributes to the transaction with outside capital. The majority of employees of Real GmbH will either continue to be employed under their respective collective agreements, or be taken over by prospective new operators in case of store transfers. Employees, whose employment cannot be continued for operational reasons, will receive fixed severance payments. SCP Group takes over 276 stores, digital business including real.de, 80 properties and all affiliates. At the same time, it will take over all 34,000 employees. SCP becomes the sole owner of the stationary real business, the digital business including the online marketplace real.de, of 80 properties and all companies belonging to Real. The transaction is subject to regulatory and antitrust approvals, and consent of a number of state bodies and approval from Board of Directors of Sistema Public Joint Stock Financial Corporation (MISX:AFKS). As of March 5, 2020, the European Commission has approved the acquisition. As of February 25, 2020, the transaction is approved by board of directors of Sistema. The transaction has been approved by Metro. Owner Metro and the buyer SCP Group have set June 25 as the date for the closing of the Real transaction. Metro expects a cash inflow of €300 million from the sale. Martin Geiger, Christof Jäckle, Nicolas Böhm, Matthias Scheifele, Hendrik Bockenheimer, Christoph Stadler, Gunther Wagner, Patrick Wilkening of Hengeler Mueller Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB acted as legal advisors to Metro AG. Reinhard Scheer-Hennings, Gerold M. Jaeger, Olaf Mertgen, Mathias Elspaß, Cord von Mandelsloh, Christoph Holstein and Tina Lukic of Clifford Chance Partnerschaftsgesellschaft acted as legal advisors to Metro AG (XTRA:B4B). Jan Bauer, Mark Darley, Frederic Depoortere, Johannes Frey, Thorsten Goetz, Armand Grumberg, Joerg Hanke, Holger Hofmeister, Matthias Horbach, Johannes Kremer Lukas Nein, Markus Perkams, David Quartner, Ruediger Schmidt-Bendun, Anke Sessler, Damien Simonot, Eve-Christie Vermynck, and Ulrich Ziegler of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP acted as legal advisor to the The SCP Group and x+bricks AG. Daniel Kamke, Heinz Kummer, Philipp Schönnenbeck, Jakob Steiff, Thomas Glaesmann, Andreas Hofelich, Sören Langner, Markus Deck, Ulrich Becker, Dr. Joachim Natterer, Thomas Gerdel, Maximilian Hacker, Christopher Freiherr von Lilien-Waldau, Florian Plagemann, Rajiv Chandna, Christoph Grenz, Katharina Haidas, Benjamin Schirmer, Michael Rein, Martina Jentsch, Amelie Schäfer, Heike Freund, Philippe Heinzke, Björn Waterkotte and Martin Friedberg of CMS Germany acted as legal advisor to The SCP Group and x+bricks AG. Oliver Nobel, Andreas Peter, Damian Tigges, Markus Heider, Marcus Richter, Christian Bürger, Thomas Lange, Thomas Christner, Christian Glauer, Karl-Georg Küsters, Tamara Schwarz, Sarah Theus, Franziska Kramer, Hanna Jansen, Michael Heise, Adalbert Rödding, Raul Taras, Christian Schröder and Holger Dann of GÖRG Rechtsanwälte acted as legal advisor to The SCP Group and x+bricks AG. Thomas Hey of Bird & Bird LLP, Germany acted as legal advisor to Metro AG. Hansjoachim Köhler, Oliver Rösch, Martin Ratzke, Marcel Mies, Philipp Grobecker, Volker Käbisch, Martin Schwarz, David Koisiak and Friederike Mostler of PricewaterhouseCoopers AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft acted as accountant to Metro AG. Albrecht Bach, Christoph Wolf and Martin Fink of Oppenländer Rechtsanwälte acted as legal advisor to Metro AG. Martin Geiger of Hengeler Mueller acted as legal advisor to LBBW. Gerald Reger, Maurice Séché, Susanne Rummel, Carsten Heinz, Elmar Bindl, Stefan Weise, Christoph Hons, Gregor Barbers, Christoph Brenzinger, Zoltán Nádasdy, Radoslaw Biedecki, Pawel Zelich, Markus Zeibig, Dr. Alexander Birnstiel, Sarah Blazek, Peter Bachmann, Tim Uschkereit, Andreas Butz, Benjamin Jahn, Stefan Schwab, Jörg Menzer, Alexandru Ene, Ákos Bajorfi of Noerr acted as legal advisor to LBBW. Thomas Egli, Jonathan Norman and Daniel Schreiber of GCA Altium AG acted as financial advisors to SCP Group. Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) acted as financial advisor to Metro AG. Stephen M. Kotran and Konstantin Technau of Sullivan & Cromwell advised Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The SCP Group and x+bricks AG completed the acquisition of Real GmbH from Metro AG (XTRA:B4B) on June 25, 2020. The transaction has received all approvals by regulatory and antitrust authorities. Evercore Inc. acted as financial advisor and Ernst & Young Global Limited acted as an accountant to the buyers.