Tesco to invest £2 bn in South Korean Homeplus

Over the next five years, Tesco will invest two billion pound sterling in Homeplus, its hypermarket operation in South Korea. This reports the local Maeil Business Newspaper. This investment level means that the British retailer will add up to more than 1.5 times its previous investment, since it entered South Korea in 1999.

Since its market entry in 1999, when it acquired a majority stake in Samsung Corporation, Tesco has invested up to £1.4 billion in its South Korean business. A Tesco spokesman told the Maeil Business Newspaper that this investment for the coming five years is part of the retailer’s global market strategy and that it intends to “further augment its sphere of influence over the highly competitive South Korean retail sector”.

South Korea and Thailand are the most important Asian markets for Tesco, which is also represented in Japan, India and Malaysia. South Korea accounts for more than one third of Tesco’s foreign sales. According to the newspaper, Samsung Tesco Homeplus now aims to increase its stores to 120 by 2010 and 150 by 2012.