Supermarket giant Tesco clinches Japan exit deal

LONDON - Agence France-Presse

British retailer Tesco prepares initially to sell its 50 percent stake in Japan to Aeon.

Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco announced yesterday that it had finally struck a deal to exit its Japanese business.

Tesco said in a statement that it would exit Japan in two stages -- first by selling 50 percent of its shares in Tesco Japan to Aeon -- the Asian country’s biggest retail group -- for a nominal amount. Once in the joint venture with Aeon, Tesco said it would then invest about £40 million ($63 million) into the Japanese business to finance further restructuring. Thereafter, Tesco said that it would have no further financial exposure to the Japanese business. Completion of the transaction was meanwhile subject to normal regulatory approval.

Tesco had officially announced 10 months ago that it was pulling out of Japan and putting its more than 100 small supermarkets there on sale to focus on other operations in Asia.