Home Depot Leaves South America

The Home Depot (Atlanta) announced it has reached an agreement to sell its nine South American stores.

Its five stores in Chile will be purchased by its joint venture partner, Falabella, and its four Argentina stores will go to Hipermercados Jumbo, the owner of Easy Homecenter. Both transactions were for undisclosed amounts.

The home improvement retailing giant said the expertise and local business knowledge it developed in South America will help facilitate its growth in Mexico.

“The potential to expand our international presence, which today includes Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, remains a key strategic focus,” said president and ceo Bob Nardelli. “We are committed to investing in attractive international markets, as was recently demonstrated by our acquisition of Total HOME in Mexico. We intend to continue growing aggressively in Mexico, which we believe is a market that offers great opportunities. As part of our strategy in Mexico, we will enhance our presence with strong vendor resources from one of our country's chief trading partners.”

All nine stores will be re-branded following a brief transition period, at which time they will no longer carry the Home Depot logo. The Argentina sale is subject to local government approval.

Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer with fiscal 2000 sales of $45.7 billion. The company operates nearly 1300 stores on the American continent. Its international presence reaches into Puerto Rico, seven Canadian provinces and Mexico.