French grocery chain Auchan Retail is set to exit its sole Asian market, as the supermarkets looks to divest its stake in Taiwan’s RT Mart.
According to Bloomberg, Auchan is seeking US$300M to US$400M for the stake, said people familiar with the matter. Auchan is working with an adviser to find a buyer for its 65 per cent stake in the RT Mart retail locations, with sale talks kicking off last week, sources said.
Plans for the sale are at an early stage and Auchan could decide to keep the stake, they added. If the sale of the RT Mart stake goes ahead, Auchan will relinquish its business presence in Asia, after the French retailer sold its stake in China’s Sun Art in October to Alibaba Holdings, for a deal worth US$3.6bn.
Auchan owns 20 hypermarkets and two convenience stores in Taiwan. Auchan opened its first Taiwan store in 1997 and has 5,500 employees in its Auchan Retail Taiwan unit, which runs the RT-Mart-branded stores.
Founded in 1996 by Yin Yanliang, RT Mart is headquartered in the Neihu District, in Taipei.
