Tesco’s Expands Asian Presence

Tesco Plc, the largest U.K. retailer, will be acquiring over 61 stores in Southeast Asia.
Tesco’s Expands Asian Presence
11/9/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/73259519.jpg" alt="Chinese customers shop at a Tesco supermarket in Beijing, China.  (Guang Niu/Getty Images)" title="Chinese customers shop at a Tesco supermarket in Beijing, China.  (Guang Niu/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1812352"/></a>
Chinese customers shop at a Tesco supermarket in Beijing, China.  (Guang Niu/Getty Images)
Tesco Plc, the largest U.K. retailer, will be acquiring over 61 stores in Southeast Asia—worth an estimated $1 billion—from France’s supermarket giant Carrefour.

This expansion for Tesco into Asia will boost its market share in the region. Countries included in the deal are Thailand, South Korea, China, Japan, and Malaysia.

The largest market for Tesco in Asia has been South Korea, with sales of $6.1 billion.

During Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy’s announcement of company financial results, during his last public announcement, he said, “It would make sense for us to look at [southeast Asian] assets,” according to a company statement.

Carrefour’s strength seems to be focused on China because it constitutes around 70 percent of sales. Carrefour will concentrate its investments there, so plans to sell off the other outlets in Asia are inevitable.