THE government has yet to receive any reports regarding rumoured plans by hypermarket Carrefour to exit Malaysia to focus on bigger and faster-growing markets.
Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said his ministry has yet to receive any news or letters from the management of Carrefour on this matter.
"I do not know what happened, so far it is just rumours. What I heard is, and I don't know how true is this, that they have business problems in Europe," he said at the Parliament lobby yesterday.
Quoting sources, Reuters reported on Monday that Carrefour has begun the process of selling its business in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in a deal that could raise around US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion) for the French retailer.
It said Carrefour is working with investment banks Goldman Sachs and UBS on the matter.
As of 2009, Carrefour had two hypermarkets in Singapore, 19 in Malaysia, and 39 hypermarkets and one convenience store in Thailand.
Ismail Sabri said in the event Carrefour chooses to cease operations in Malaysia, it has nothing to do with the country being unattractive to foreign investors.
"We received a lot of applications from hypermarkets keen to open up more branches and everyday we reject a lot of them as there are certain procedures they must adhere to. This shows they are confident in investing here," he said.
He said there is nothing the government can do to stop Carrefour from exiting as it is a business decision.
"For now, it is too premature to comment because we don't know the reasons.
"If there are any developments, they might see me to discuss, and we'll see what we can do to help," he said.
- by Business Times
No comments:
Post a Comment