French supermarket giant Carrefour has cancelled the sale of its stores in Singapore and Malaysia, after the planned auction of the stores did not attract the requisite amount of interest. Earlier this week, Carrefour announced the sale of its Thai business to Groupe Casino.
Japanese retailer AEON and Tesco were believed to be in the running to take over either the Malaysia or Singapre operations, however, Lars Olofsson announced an about turn by the company, citing growth prospects in the country.
"We have some very encouraging growth prospects in Malaysia," he explained, also adding "we can create much more value by doing it ourselves [...] Emerging markets are going to be the major engine of growth in the medium and long term for our company." (18 Oct)
© 2010 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
