U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart, which has flirted with entering Russia for years, still sees promise in the vast country, and will continue to look for the right opportunity, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Its comment followed a report in St Petersburg-based Russian magazine “Delovoi Peterburg” that it is in talks to buy the Karusel hypermarket chain from X5, Russia’s top food retailer by sales. The report said that a deal may be announced in around two weeks.
Analysts estimated such a deal could be worth $2 billion. An X5 spokeswoman said: “We deny these reports categorically.”
Wal-Mart has looked at Russia for years but appeared to have given up in December 2010 when it closed its Moscow office due to a lack of acquisition opportunities.
It reawakened speculation it was still interested in Russia when it hired Lev Khasis, the former head of X5, as a senior vice president in September 2011.
A research report by analysts at Uralsib said X5 could ask around $2 billion for the hypermarkets which “would provide quick entry to Russia for Walmart.”
Source: www.reuters.com