Tesco continues it’s global retreat with the sale of Thailand and Malaysia for $10.6B including debt, along with a plan to return $6.6B to shareholders.
“This sale releases material value and allows us to further simplify and focus the business, as well as to return significant value to shareholders.”
Dave Lewis, Tesco CEO
The sale of over 2,000 stores in Thailand and Malaysia completes the retailer’s exit from Asia. However, the acquirer, CP Group, faces regulatory scrutiny from Thai antitrust regulators. CP originally sold the Thai business to Tesco for $180M during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.