| To: Business Editors | For immediate release |
The following announcement was issued to the London Stock Exchange on 21st March 2000.
DAIRY FARM TO SELL ITS STAKE IN TAIWAN HYPERMARKET
JOINT VENTURE
21st March 2000 - Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited and Groupe Casino of France today announced that both parties had agreed to unwind their Asian hypermarket joint venture. Dairy Farm has agreed to sell its 50% stake in the joint venture, DFI Géant, to Groupe Casino. DFI Géant was formed in 1996 and has two hypermarkets in operation in Taiwan.
Dairy Farm will receive a cash consideration of US$17.5 million, which corresponds to the carrying value of the investment in DFI Géant at the date of completion.
The agreement is part of a wider arrangement between Groupe Casino and Far Eastern of Taiwan to combine DFI Géant with Far Eastern's hypermarket business, which is subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.
"The results of DFI Géant have not met our expectations. This sale allows us to concentrate our Taiwan resources on expanding our market leading Wellcome supermarkets, which continue to show encouraging trends in results," said Ronald J Floto, Group Chief Executive of Dairy Farm. "Dairy Farm will open hypermarkets in the region, based on our existing successful format in Malaysia," Mr Floto added.
Dairy Farm is a leading food and drugstore retailer in the Asia-Pacific Region. At the end of 1999, the Group and its associates operated 2,063 outlets, principally supermarkets, convenience stores and drugstores, employed some 80,000 people in nine territories and had 1999 sales of US$6.8 billion.
For further information, please contact:
| Dairy Farm Management Services Limited | |
| Simon Mawson | (852) 2299 1891 (office) email: smawson@dairy-farm.com.hk |
| Groupe Casino | |
| Philippe Bastien | (33) 477 45 3971 (office) email: pbastien@avo.fr |
| Forrest International Limited | |
| Bob Fienberg | (852) 2501 7908 (office) email: fienberg@forrestintl.com.hk |
Full text of this and other Group announcements can be accessed through the Internet at "www.irasia.com/listco/sg/dfi".
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