Magazines Archives - 2007 April

Aeon buys a stake in flagging Daiei
Story 13

JAPANESE supermarket chain Aeon is buying a 15% stake in flagging retailer Daiei for ¥46.2 billion (approximately US$388 million) from the latter’s largest stakeholder, Marubeni Corp, which currently holds 44.6%. The move is expected to create the largest alliance in Japan.

Under the deal, Aeon will also buy 20% of Daiei’s supermarket operator, Maruetsu, for ¥16.5 billion.

Aeon expects the partnership to see combined sales of all three operations exceeding ¥6 trillion, surpassing current market leader Seven & I Holdings’ estimated annual figure of ¥5.5 trillion.

Other terms include Aeon and Marubeni buying ¥10-billion worth of each other’s stocks over three months, the posting of two Aeon executives to Daiei’s board to assist in management. Daiei currently has nine board members.