Metro under no pressure to sell Kaufhof -report

FRANKFURT, May 12 (Reuters) - German retailer Metro (MEOG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) is under no pressure to sell its Galeria Kaufhof department stores unit and is not in talks with any potential buyers, Metro's chief executive was quoted as saying.

Eckhard Cordes, who took over as CEO in November, has said he plans to sell Kaufhof and possibly float the group's Media Markt and Saturn consumer electronics chains.

"We are under no pressure," the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) quoted him on Monday as saying, referring to a sale of Kaufhof.

"We are in the internal evaluation phase and not involved in any talks," Cordes said, declining to comment when asked by the FAZ about estimates valuing Kaufhof, including the unit's real estate assets, at around 3 billion euros ($4.6 billion).

The planned sale of Kaufhof was part of Metro's strategy to increase revenue from operations outside Germany to 70 percent from 60 percent at present, Cordes said.

Asked about a possible flotation of Metro's consumer electronics retailing business, he said a stock exchange listing was one option among many.

"But that will certainly not happen tomorrow," Cordes said, adding that Metro would remain the biggest shareholder even in the case of a listing.

He reiterated Metro's medium-term targets of 6 percent revenue growth and more than 8 percent growth in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). (Reporting by Peter Starck; editing by Sue Thomaws)