Carrefour continued to sell off key assets in Southeast Asia with the divestment of its 60 percent stake in its Indonesian supermarket operations to local partner CT Corp for 525 million euros ($673 million). Clifford Chance and Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners advised the seller, while Ashurst advised CT Corp.
Carrefour, the world’s second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart Corp, has been scaling back its presence in Asia as part of a plan to cut debt and refocus on core operations, according to Reuters. Assisted by Clifford Chance and Wong & Partners, Carrefour sold its Malaysian operations last month to Aeon, Japan’s largest supermarket operator. It has also said it would close its two stores in Singapore.
CT Corp, a conglomerate with banking and media interests, previously owned a 40 percent stake in the joint venture. In July, Reuters reported that CT Corp was in talks to acquire the rest of the supermarket chain. Under the deal, the company will retain exclusive rights to use the Carrefour brand in Indonesia under a licence agreement with the French retailer.
Clifford Chance’s Hong Kong-based partners Emma Davies and Peter Kilner led on the deal, assisted by partner Mathieu Remy in the firm’s Paris office. Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners advised Carrefour on Indonesian law.
The deal is expected to close in January next year, subject to the approval of the Indonesian antitrust authorities.
Kanishk Verghese is North Asia journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.
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