Dairy Farm International Group (DFI) is disposing its grocery venture in Malaysia, which includes the supermarket chain Giant, for an unspecified figure after having operated in the country for 24 years.
The retail group, based in Hong Kong and listed in Singapore, has inked an agreement with a group of Malaysian business people headed by Datuk Andrew Lim Tatt Keong, who is both the deputy chairman of Sogo Department Store and executive chairman of the Gama Group.
The switchover is anticipated to be finished by next month and the new owner will take over 2500 staffs from Giant, Cold Storage and Mercato grocery businesses.
The Edge Markets suggested that the agreement could be worth “at least a couple of billion (ringgit)”.
DFI entered Malaysia in 1999 by obtaining a 90 percent stake in Giant via its subsidiary GCH Retail. The subsidiary registered a net loss of US$23.4 million in 2021 with store numbers being cut to less than half of the pre-Covid period.
“By uniting these companies under experienced local leadership, we have laid the foundations for them to continue growing and contributing to the Malaysian economy,” the company said.