FRANCE : ''CARREFOUR -CHINA- CHINESE''

CARREFOUR sells Chinese business to Suning.com.

PARIS : French supermarket giant Carrefour said Sunday it had agreed to sell 80 percent of its China business to leading Chinese retailer Suning.

One of the world's biggest food retailers, the French group is in the middle of a major reorganisation., with  the deal valuing its Chinese operations at 1.4 billion euros [$ 1.6 billion], the company said in a statement.

''The purchase price for the acquisition of 80 percent of Carrefour China shares is 4.8 billion  renminbi, or 620 million euros,'' it said, indicating the deal was expected to be completed by the year's end.

This price is subject to a closing adjustment mechanism, based on the evolution of Carrefour China's supervisory board, although it includes a clause which provides ''several liquidity windows'' for it to sell that stake.

Present in China since 1995, Carrefour operates a network of 210 hypermarkets and 24 convenience stores, and last year posted sales of 3.6 billion euros, down almost 10 percent of the figure for 2017. [AFP]