German retailer Metro Group has confirmed it is holding separate talks with two billionaire investors about a potential sale of its Kaufhof department store chain.

The Kaufhof business is worth between EUR 2 bn and EUR 3 bn with the company owning half of its roughly 140 stores.

Contacted by PropertyEU, a Metro spokesman confirmed earlier German media reports that the retail group is talking to Greek shipping investor George Economou, through Austrian private real estate firm Signa, and Nicolas Berggruen, the billionaire owner of the bulk of Karstadt chain of department stores in Germany.

The spokesman emphasised the discussions are at an early 'exploratory' phase. 'We have been talking to Nicolas Berggruen for a number of reasons for some time but you could say we began talking to him and holding separate discussions with Signa a couple of weeks ago about Kaufhof.' He stressed that Metro does not have a deadline for the talks and he could not comment on whether a bid would eventually be agreed with one or both investors.

Economou has placed an indicative EUR 2.4 bn bid for Kaufhof through Signa, according to German news reports. Berggruen is also in discussions on a potential bid for the department store chain.

German retailer Metro has been trying to sell the chain for the past four years. It initially announced plans to sell its Kaufhof non-strategic unit in 2008 but the divestment was put on hold amid the financial crisis and a failed attempt to merge Kaufhof with the Karstadt department store chain.

A separate attempt to sell Kaufhof unit was launched in early 2010. In September last year, Berggruen acquired Germany's insolvent department-store chain Karstadt, after several months of protracted wrangling over lower rents and debt restructuring.