Tesco considering merger in Turkey

21st Feb 2014 13:24

Supermarket giant Tesco is reportedly considering a tie-up with a retail group in Turkey in an effort to scale back its exposure to the European nation and put more focus on its struggling UK business. According to press reports on Friday, the UK grocer has held talks with BC Partners about combining its assets with Turkey's largest supermarket group, Migros, in which the private equity firm holds a majority stake.Tesco operates through 191 stores in 20 cities in Turkey after entering the country in 2003 through the acquisition of hypermarket chain Kipa.However, the region's performance has disappointed in recent years with investors thought to welcome any partial exit similar to the one made in China last year when Tesco merged operations with China Resources Enterprise.The decline in Turkish like-for-like sales worsened to 12.8% in the first half of the current financial year, compared with a 5.4% fall the previous year.Tesco share price was down 0.1% at 334.05p by 14:12 on Friday.BC