Tesco agrees sale of businesses in Thailand, Malaysia for $10.6 billion

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco (L:) said on Monday it will return $6.6 billion (5 billion pounds) to shareholders after agreeing to sell its businesses in Thailand and Malaysia to Charoen Pokphand Group for an enterprise value of $10.6 billion.

The UK supermarket group kicked off a review of its Asian businesses in December after receiving interest in the assets, signalling a further retreat from its once lofty global ambitions.

Following completion of the disposal to the Thai group controlled by Dhanin Chearavanont, Tesco intends to return cash to shareholders via a special dividend with an associated share consolidation.

Tesco said the deal is conditional on the approval of its shareholders and regulatory approvals in Thailand and Malaysia, which is expected during the second half of 2020.

The deal’s completion would mean Tesco’s only overseas operations, apart from Ireland, would be its central European division, consisting of stores in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

“This sale releases material value and allows us to further simplify and focus the business, as well as to return significant value to shareholders,” said Tesco Chief Executive Dave Lewis.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.