Carrefour SA is in advanced talks to sell a controlling stake in its Taiwanese operations to its local minority partner Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), people familiar with the matter said.
Uni-President has emerged as the likeliest buyer for 60 percent of the French grocer’s business, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.
The Taiwanese food conglomerate, which has the right of first refusal for Carrefour’s stake, and the European firm are discussing details of a potential transaction including financing and antitrust, the people said.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
A deal could even be reached in the next few weeks, they said.
Talks are ongoing, no final decision has been made and other bidders remain interested in the assets, the people said.
Representatives for Carrefour and Uni-President declined to comment.
“We are handling this according to the script,” Uni-President chairman Alex Lo (羅智先) said when asked about a potential deal for the stake during an investors’ briefing on March 11.
“When timing is right, everyone will know,” Lo added.
Carrefour has been exploring a sale of its Taiwan unit in a potential deal that has drawn interest from firms including Carlyle Group Inc, CVC Capital Partners and Taiwanese conglomerate Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), Bloomberg News reported in October last year.
The unit could fetch an enterprise value of at least US$1.9 billion, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
Carrefour set up its first outlet in Taiwan in 1989, two years after establishing a joint venture with Uni-President, its Web site says.
The company has since expanded to more than 320 outlets.
Uni-President and its affiliates own about a 40 percent stake in Carrefour’s Taiwan unit.
From its origins as a flour mill in Tainan, Uni-President has expanded to become one of the largest food conglomerates in Asia, with businesses spanning from dairy and beverages to instant food, baking and logistics, its Web site says.
It also operates 7-Eleven convenience stores in Taiwan, Shanghai and the Philippines.
Carrefour, which has been the subject of takeover activity in the past few years, has been reviewing its global assets. In 2019, it agreed to sell an 80 percent stake in its China unit for US$698 million in cash to local retailer Suning.com Co (蘇寧).
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
RSS