Big C’s new owner to be finalised this week

March 16, 2016 | 16:26

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The result of the bidding for supermarket chain Big C Vietnam is going to be announced this week, according to newswire cafef.vn

Currently, Japanese retailer Aeon leads the race to become the new owner of Big C, with a bidding price of $800 million.

Other competitors are South Korea’s Lotte Shopping, Thai Central Group, and TCC Holding.

The current owner of Big C, Casino, is selling assets in Asia and Latin America to pay off debts. As a reaction to decreasing consumption, it aims to focus more on its core business lines in its native country, France. In February, Casino sold Big C Thailand to TCC Holding for €3.1 billion ($3.4 billion).

Aeon currently operates three shopping malls in Vietnam, two in Ho Chi Minh City and one in Hanoi, besides many convenience stores. The company considers Vietnam its priority market in Southeast Asia and the country is going to have the biggest number of Aeon malls in the region.

Lotte operates in a variety of fields in Vietnam, including retail. In 2015, it announced a plan to open 60 supermarkets in the country before 2020. Central Group, through its electronics retail arm PowerBuy, owns 49 per cent of electronics retailer Nguyen Kim.

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