The German retail group Metro wants to get rid of Real, its supermarket chain. With 279 stores and 36,000 employees, Real is still producing €7bn in sales, but it’s produced a string of losses in recent years. X+ Brick AG and the Redos Group are two potential investors believed to be in the running take over the supermarket chain. Both companies have offered over €900 million for the chain. “The process of selling is now entering a hot phase,” Metro boss Olaf Koch told the German economic daily Handelsblatt. “The talks are constructive, but the results are still open,” he said, indicated the plan was to complete a deal by June “at the latest.”