The supermarket giant explained its bosses were first approached over South Korea after Lewis announced in October last year that the entire business was under review to shore up a £20 billion debt mountain and attempt to reassure investors after two “junk” status downgrades by credit-rating agencies.
Tesco has struggled in the country during recent years, particularly due to changing laws around Sunday trading.
It has also sold off Tesco’s Japanese, US and China over the last few years in an attempt to rein in wild over-expansion under former boss Sir Terry Leahy.
Overhaul: Tesco boss Dave Lewis
Neil Hall/Reuters
However, today’s sale is the first which has actually realised a profit for the company. An attempt to sell some of its struggling Turkish businesses fell through last year.
The Japanese business cost £40 million to offload, China led to a joint venture at a cost of £185 million, and the US business required a final £150 million payment to sell, after costing around £2 billion to set up and run.
Lewis will now focus attentions on improving Tesco’s UK business, as sales continue to slip according to Kantar Worldpanel, with rivals Aldi and Lidl eating into the supermarket’s customer base.
