Carrefour, the world’s second-biggest retailer, plans to exit Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and is seeking offers for its operations in those countries, said four people familiar with the matter.
Carrefour has approached potential buyers and may ask for bids by early September, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the sale process was not public.
The combined operations may fetch $800 million to $1 billion, they said. Carrefour spokeswoman Florence Baranes-Cohen declined to comment.
Local subsidiary PT Carrefour Indonesia last month confirmed that it was committed to remaining in the country, after Carrefour’s chief executive, Lars Olofsson, told shareholders the company would exit markets that it could not dominate.
That followed reports in May that Trans Corp., a unit of Para Group, was seeking to acquire 100 percent of Carrefour Indonesia. Trans Corp., which bought a 40 percent stake in Carrefour Indonesia this year, later denied the report.
Carrefour will consider selling the units separately as potential buyers may not be interested in bidding for all three combined, according to two of the sources.
Carrefour’s Thai business may have a value of $500 million to $600 million, while the Malaysian and Singapore operations may be valued at $350 million to $400 million, the sources said.
Carrefour plans to retain its units in China and Indonesia, they said.
“It’s a positive move, in line with what the company has been doing,” said Fabio Fazzari, an analyst at Equita Sim in Milan. “The new management is more focused on non- capital intensive retail. What they’ve been seeking to do for about a year now is get rid of all underperforming assets.”
Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain, Japan’s Aeon, Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm International Holdings and Thailand’s Big C Supercenter may be putting in a bid, three of the people familiar with the matter said. South Korea’s Lotte Group was earlier approached to make a bid, they said.
Aeon spokesman Eiichi Yamatani declined to comment, saying Japan’s second-largest retailer is “checking the situation.”
Zhuang Nanbin, a vice president at Tesco China, wouldn’t comment on “market rumors.”
Both Lancy Ng, spokeswoman for Singapore-listed Dairy Farm, and Pimwanich Poolkasem, head of investor relations at Big C, declined to comment on Tuesday.
Lotte Group is not considering a purchase of Carrefour’s assets, said Lee Byung Hee, a Seoul-based spokesman.
Asia was Carrefour’s smallest market by sales in 2009, accounting for about 7.5 percent of the total, according to the company’s Web site. France was the biggest, generating 43 percent of sales, followed by the rest of Europe at 36 percent.
Carrefour plans to open 22 hypermarkets and 140 discount stores in China this year, Olofsson said in May.
The retailer may opt for a franchise model in India, and plans to open its first wholesale outlet in New Delhi in the next few months, Carrefour’s managing director of operations in India, Jean Noel Bironneau, said in May.
Bloomberg
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/carrefour-seeks-buyers-for-operations-in-three-countries-in-southeast-asia/384475
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