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PRIVACY
Retail & Consumer

Tesco to sell Thailand and Malaysia operations in £8.2bn deal

The South East Asia business has been sold to a group overseen by Thailand's second richest man

(Image: Tesco)

Tesco has agreed a deal to sell its supermarket arms in Thailand and Malaysia, in a move worth around £8.2 billion.

It said it will receive around £8 billion in cash proceeds and plans to hand £5 billion of this to shareholders in a one-off dividend.

Tesco has agreed to sell the south-east Asian business to CP Group, Thailand's biggest conglomerate presided over by Dhanin Chearavanont, the country's second richest man.

In December, the supermarket confirmed that it was considering a sale of its Asian operations as part of a strategic review and had been approached by a potential buyer.

Last month, Tesco also exited China after selling its stake in the Gain Land joint venture for £275 million.

The company said it received multiple offers for the Asian division and believes the disposal "will realise a significantly higher value than could be generated from Tesco's continued ownership and investment".

Tesco said the deal, which is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2020, will "further simplify" the business and leave it only with operations in Europe.

It said it will now focus on operations in the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ and Ireland, where it has 3,769 stores, as well as its Eastern European operations, where it has 895 sites.