Tesco to expand in South Korea

On may 14th, Tesco, the British retail group announced it would invest US$3.2 bn in its South Korean venture over the next four years. Terry Leahy, chairman of the Tesco Group told a Seoul press conference the company will invest US$583 m every year until 2005, reports China Times Tesco has an 81 per cent stake in the Samsung-Tesco joint venture, which operates Homeplus supermarkets. Leahy, who is in Seoul to mark the two-year anniversary of the establishment of Homeplus, said the number of stores in South Korea should grow from seven to 13 by the end of this year. He added that by the end of 2005, there should be 55 stores in operation, opening at the rate of 10 stores per year. Tesco already has 24 stores in Thailand and one in Taiwan and Leahy said it was considering starting businesses in Japan, China and Malaysia. Samsung-Tesco president Lee Seung-Han said Tesco's marketing expertise helped the joint venture to expand rapidly and the company plans to launch an Internet shopping mall centred around food next year. Source: China Times​