By Lorna Brett

Tesco is believed to have been one of more than ten companies from across the world that has bid in the first round of the auction for Carrefour’s south-east Asian assets.

According to the Financial Times, the bidders included a number of large non-Asian retailers as well as private equity firms and local Singaporean and Thai retail chains. It is believed that Wal-Mart did not bid in the first round and has no plan to do so in coming rounds, despite discussing the potential to expand into the region.

Carrefour, the world’s second-largest retailer, is looking to receive between $US800m to $US1 billion for its 61 stores in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. The sell-off is part of CEO Lars Olofsson’s plan to redirect resources from markets where it has little chance of becoming a leader into countries where it can achieve number one ranking.

It is understood that some of the bids received were for all the stores on sale, whilst others were for the 40 Thai supermarkets alone, or for the 19 Malaysian and two Singapore stores together.

The sale will leave Carrefour with a substantial operation in China, which accounts for nearly 70% of its stores in the Asian region. The retailer will also remain in Indonesia and Taiwan.

No date has been set for the next round of bidding.