German trading group Rewe is pulling out of Italy with retail chain Billa, Austrian website orf.at reports. Rewe sold 53 Billa supermarkets to the Italian subsidiary of French trading company Carrefour.
"Our strategic goal is to achieve a top market position in all countries where we are represented with our supermarkets. For us, this wasn't attainable in Italy in the past, despite targeted investments, and by our current assessment, it won't be attainable any time soon either," says Frank Hensel, Chairman of the Board at Rewe International AG.
