Under the agreement, private equity fund KKR will become the majority owner with a 65% stake, while Japanese ecommerce marketplace Rakuten takes 20%, the companies said in a statement. Walmart will retain a 15% minority interest. Rakuten and KKR will seek to shore up Seiyu’s digital operations as demand for online retail grows in Japan amid the pandemic. The new owners are retaining a previously announced plan to re-list Seiyu in the future.
Walmart first invested in Seiyu in 2002 and took it private in 2008. But like other foreign big retailers, including Tesco and France’s Carrefour, it failed to find success in Japan’s notoriously difficult and low-margin supermarket space, and struggled to compete with local rivals such as Aeon and Seven & i, according to Fortune.com.
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