French retail giant Carrefour has sold its Malaysian operations to Japanese giant Aeon.
The sale, announced today (31 October), was made for an enterprise value of EUR250m (US$324.1m).
The transaction, Carrefour said, is part of its strategy of "refocusing" on its core activities and allocating its resources to mature countries where it occupies "strong and established" positions and emerging markets where it has "strong growth potential".
Present in Malaysia since 1994, Carrefour is the fourth-largest retailer in the country with 26 hypermarkets, with net sales of EUR400m for the 12 months to 30 June.
The closing of the transaction is immediate and effective today.
The move come two years after the French retailer cancelled plans to sell its Malaysian and Singapore divisions, after the auction did not attract bids that would have justified proceeding. Bidders at the time were thought to have included Aeon, Tesco and Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm International Holdings.
This August, Carrefour did confirm plans to exit Singapore with the closure of its two stores by the end of the year.
Carrefour CEO Georges Plassat wants the retailer to focus on fewer markets. This month, Carrefour sold its stores in Colombia to Chile-based retailer Cencosud.
In July, Carrefour offloaded its Greek business and earlier this month there was speculation the retailer could combine its Turkish unit with local firm Migros Ticaret.
