Japan's Aeon could buy Tesco's Malaysian unit

7th Jul 2015 12:34

Tesco's efforts to sell its Malaysian operations, valued at £900m, have been boosted by interest from Japan's acquisitive retail group Aeon, according to reports.Aeon was said to be interested in buying the unit, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, which would transform the Japanese corporation into Malaysia's biggest hypermarkets operator.The UK supermarket group has been examining sales of its various geographical extremities since being hit by an accounting scandal last year and after it unveiled its worst ever annual loss, of £6.38bn in April this year. It reported another slip in sales in June but said the decline was slowing.Aeon, which has plans to open 100 hypermarkets by 2020, bought the Malaysian arm of French retailer Carrefour in 2012 for €250m and with the Tesco operation would have 29 megastores in the country.Tesco is currently seeking for a buyer for its South Korean Unit, Homeplus, which is valued at around $6bn. Private equity firms Affinity Equity Partners, Carlyle Group, MBK Partners and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs were reportedly shortlisted for the sale.The supermarket group hired HSBC to lead efforts to make the sale of Homeplus - the company's biggest business outside of the UK.Tesco has also had offers for its Thai operations, Tesco Lotus, having been approached by Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont with an offer in February.