OREANDA-NEWS. November 10, 2011. X5 Retail Group N.V., Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales, announced today the appointment of Jan Fuchs as X5 Retail Group Hypermarket Format Director, with effect from 01 November 2011.

Jan Fuchs has extensive retail industry experience in Eastern Europe and Russia. As Deputy Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the Kaufland hypermarkets chain in the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2007, Jan built from scratch a profitable business comprising more than 80 stores and 6,000 employees, and also led operations of Kaufland's expansion in the Slovak Republic and Poland. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of REWE Group in Russia. He is fluent in English, Russian, Czech and German. This appointment is in line with X5's previously announced goal of establishing a dedicated management structure for Hypermarkets separate from Supermarkets by the end of this year.

Andrei Gusev, CEO of X5 Retail Group, commented:

"We 're delighted to have Jan Fuchs join our management team. He has a proven track record of profitable growth in hypermarkets, and brings critical category management expertise to the job. I look forward to working with Jan to strengthen our hypermarket format's performance and to create additional value for X5's shareholders. "