Tesco hires HSBC to explore sale of $6 billion S.Korea unit: sources

HONG KONG | By Denny Thomas and Prakash Chakravarti

The head office of Tesco is seen in Cheshunt, in southern England January 8, 2015.

Reuters/Toby Melville

Troubled British retailer Tesco (TSCO.L) is exploring the sale of its South Korean operations, valued at about $6 billion, and has hired HSBC (HSBA.L) as a financial adviser, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.The appointment of an adviser is Tesco's first concrete step towards a sale of a chunk of its Asian assets, although speculation has been rife about such a course of action. A sale would mark Tesco CEO Dave Lewis's biggest restructuring move since assuming charge last year.
Tesco shares were bid higher in London after the news, with the stock turning positive and rising as much as 1 percent, bucking a 1.5 percent drop in the benchmark FTSE Index .FTSE.

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The retailer had received several inquiries in the
past for its South Korean operations, its biggest business outside of the U.K., which has encouraged the company to explore a formal sale process, the people added.
Tesco and HSBC declined to comment. The sources declined to be identified as the discussions are confidential.
Tesco's other big Asian operation in Thailand had also previously attracted interest from Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont who was rebuffed.
The potential sale of the South Korean operations comes after Tesco unveiled in April its worst ever annual loss, hit by a one-off 7 billion pounds ($10.7 billion) write-down.
The 96-year-old group, which has dominated the British retail landscape for decades, is going through a restructuring after hiring former Unilever (ULVR.L) executive Lewis. Tesco was distracted by expensive overseas expansion and failed to spot the threat from discounters at home, resulting in lost market share and declining profits.
It was also hit by an accounting scandal and ratings downgrades.
Global buyout firms KKR & Co (KKR.N), Carlyle Group (CG.O), CVC Partners and TPG Capital Management as well as homegrown Asian buyout firms including MBK Partners are likely bidders for Tesco's South Korean business, the people added.
KKR and Carlyle declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. TPG, CVC and MBK did not offer an immediate comment.
Tesco's South Korean operations generated 5.38 billion pounds ($8.24 billion) of revenue excluding value-added tax for fiscal 2014/15, a 4 percent drop in like-for-like sales from the previous year, according to its annual report.
The South Korean operations generated about $750 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the period and the business could be sold for seven to eight times EBITDA, one of the sources said.
The retailer had 425 outlets in South Korea at the end of fiscal 2014/15.
(Reporting by Denny Thomas and Prakash Chakravarti at IFR/BasisPoint; Additional reporting by James Davey and Pamela Barbagila in LONDON; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)