Rewe To Invest A Record €1.6bn In 2016

Germany's second largest retailer, the Rewe Group, has revealed that it plans to invest €1.6 billion…

Germany's second largest retailer, the Rewe Group, has revealed that it plans to invest €1.6 billion throughout its network of stores this year.

The company, which employs of 300,000 people, hopes to expand and modernise its sites with its largest ever cash injection.

"Overall, we expect to invest €1.6 billion in the expansion and modernisation of our network of shops at home and abroad. Possible acquisitions will be financed separately," said CEO of Rewe Alain Caparros in an interview with the German economic daily newspaper Handelsblatt.

"It will happen because we have achieved our goals of revenue for 2013." Last year, Rewe has invested around € 1.5 billion, half of which was pumped directly into its German operations.

Rewe are hoping to open up bistros, cafes and sushi bars in its larger hypermarket units with this expansion.

"If we are not careful, the supermarkets will become superfluous," Caparros warned . "In the end, we are attacked from two sides: from online retailers and discount stores (discounters)," he said.