BEIJING: A London based company Kingfisher Plc (KGF) agreed to sell control of its unprofitable Chinese unit for 140 million pounds ($219 million) as the home-improvement retailer narrows its focus to Europe.
The sale of a 70 percent stake in the division to Wumei Holdings Inc. is conditional on approval by China, the company said in a statement. Completion is expected in the first half of 2015.
Kingfisher has spent more than three months seeking a strategic partner for the Chinese business, which opened its first store in 1999 and now has 39 outlets employing more than 3,000 people. Wumei, based in Beijing, has become one of China’s main store operators since being founded two decades ago.
Wumei “will help us to release the financial value of our business in China,” Veronique Laury, Kingfisher’s new chief executive officer, said in the statement. “This will enable us to focus our financial resources and management talent on the large and attractive European home improvement market.”
