Germany's Metro plans to enter Indonesia-paper

JAKARTA, March 29 (Reuters) Europe's largest retail company, Metro AG, is planning to set up a network of 20 wholesale markets in Indonesia with an investment of 500 million euro (6.2 million), a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Investor Daily quoted Germany's deputy ambassador in Indonesia Wolfgang Piecha as saying that the network would span Indonesia's Sumatra island, Java and Bali.

Metro is the world's third biggest retailer by sales.

''Other than Metro, another investor from Hamburg is also planing to construct a chemical storage terminal,'' Piecha said after a meeting between chambers of commerce from Indonesian and Germany.

Metro, which has a market capitalisation of .6 billion, is expecting its sales to climb by 8-9 percent this year as it reaps the fruit of acquisitions made last year and grows its wholesale and electronics units.

The Duesseldorf-based firm is also expanding to India.

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