PARIS/NANJING, June 23 (Xinhua) -- France-based Carrefour, the world's leading retailer chain, on Sunday announced it sold a controlling stake in Carrefour China to Chinese retailer giant Suning.com.
The French company said in a statement that it had signed an accord with Suning.com group to sell 80 percent equity interest in Carrefour China.
"The strong complementarity between Carrefour China and Suning.com's activities will accelerate the development of Carrefour China," it said.
Under the deal, Carrefour will retain 20 percent stake in the business and two seats out of seven on Carrefour China's Supervisory Board, according to the French company.
Suning International Group Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suning.com, will invest 4.8 billion yuan (about 700 million U.S. dollars) for the deal, according to an announcement released by Suning.com.
The transaction, which will be paid in cash, is subject to approval by Chinese competition authorities and other customary conditions. It is expected to be finalized by the end of 2019, Carrefour added.
Present in China since 1995, Carrefour China operates a network of 210 hypermarkets and 24 convenience stores.
The Nanjing-headquartered Suning.com owns one of China's leading e-commerce platforms with more than 400 million users and has opened 8,881 stores in China by the end of last year. The retailer saw its net profit increase 216.2 percent in 2018 to 13.3 billion yuan, thanks to soaring online consumption.
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