Media Markt Co-Founder Erich Kellerhals Dies

Erich Kellerhals, co-founder of Media Markt and minority shareholder in Europe's largest consumer-electronics retailer Media-Saturn-Holding, died on Dec. 25.

His death was confirmed by a spokesman of Mr. Kellerhals's company Convergenta Invest GmbH, speaking in name of his family.

Mr. Kellerhals, aged 78, was one of the wealthiest people in Germany, with Forbes magazine estimating his assets at around $2 billion. Mr. Kellerhals's company Convergenta owns a stake of around 20% in Media-Saturn-Holding, with the remaining 80% belongs to Ceconomy AG (CEC.XE), which has been bundling its consumer electronics business since the "old" Metro AG (B4B.XE) split in July.

Mr. Kellerhals had filed a lawsuit against the Metro split, citing tax disadvantages and noting that the split mostly benefited major shareholders. Mr. Kellerhals, who historically had a veto on certain strategic decisions of the Media-Saturn-Holding, and the "old" Metro AG have been fighting over his shareholder rights since 2011.

The dispute was continued with Ceconomy after the split-up. More recently, a mediator took over the case.

"Erich Kellerhals has been a remarkable entrepreneur and has laid the cornerstone of today's MediaMarktSaturn Group with his wife, and we pay tribute to him for his condolences and compassion," the Ceconomy Board said.

Ceconomy shares are up 3.6% at EUR12.18 at 1013GMT.

Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 28, 2017 04:44 ET (09:44 GMT)