The company, which has an 11% stake in Tesco’s South Korean operation, said it would initially sell a 5% share in the company next year, with the remaining 6% to be sold later. It is expected that Tesco will buy the share of the business from Samsung.
Samsung originally formed a 50/50 partnership with Tesco in 1999 under the Homeplus banner. Since then, Samsung’s stake has fallen as it chose not to participate in Tesco’s rights offerings.
Homeplus is the country’s second largest discount retailer, with a 17.1% market share. Tesco has continued to expand in Korea, despite other international giants such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour exiting the market.