Wal-Mart Buys Some More China

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Bentonville, Ark.) has acquired a 35 percent stake in the Taiwan-owned Bounteous Co. Ltd., operator of 101 hypermarkets in 34 Chinese cities under the Trust-Mart banner.

Wal-Mart said it eventually expected to acquire control of the company. The retailer declined to say how much it paid, but The New York Times reported that people close to the deal said Wal-Mart had agreed to pay close to $1 billion to assume control of the Chinese retailer.

“Through this investment in Trust-Mart we have the opportunity to expand our presence in China, one of the world's fastest growing retail markets,” said Wal-Mart vice chairman Michael Duke. “This is an important step in bringing additional scale to our China retail business.”

Wal-Mart China already operates 73 stores in 36 cities in China – 68 Supercenters, three Sam's Clubs and two Neighborhood Markets. Through this acquisition, Wal-Mart could surpass Carrefour SA (Paris), which has about 90 superstores operating in China.

In order to manage integration of the two operations, Wal-Mart said that it would appoint one of its executives as chief operating officer of Trust-Mart stores. “The two teams from each company will work together starting today to find ways to cooperate,” said Jonathan Dong, a spokesman for Wal-Mart in Shenzhen, China.