Carrefour picks preferred bidders for operations in Korea

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

SEOUL (AFP) — French retail giant Carrefour has selected South Korean firms Lotte Mart and Samsung Tesco Homeplus as preferred bidders for its 32 outlets here, a Carrefour spokesman said.

Lotte Mart is a unit of South Korea's largest department store operator, Lotte Shopping, while Samung Tesco Homeplus is a joint venture between tge Samsung Group and Britain's Tesco Plc.

"Carrefour has picked Lotte Shopping and Homeplus as the two preferred bidders," the spokesman for Carrefour's public relations firm Saram and Image, Yim Jin-Taek, told AFP. He refused to disclose further details.

Carrefour, the fourth-largest discount store chain here, has said it is selling akk its 32 outlets in South Korea and pulling out of the country.

Analysts estimate they...