Hutchison Whampoa Ltd has aborted plans to sell its supermarket chain ParknShop and instead looking at the option of offload shares in its retailing arm, AS Watson Group, according to media reports.
The Hong Kong-based company made the announcement over the weekend, following a review by Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Bank of America Corp.
Late last week the Australian Financial Review revealed supermarket giant Woolworths was considering a US$3bn bid for ParknShop, however Asian Capital Holdings’ chief Chinese advisor Ronald Wan said Hutchison’s asking price of up to US$4bn was too aggressive.
“Hutchison couldn’t sell with maximum gain and the transaction price of ParknShop would have affected the valuation of Watson, so it chose to drop the plan,” Wan told The Star Online.
Hutchison attracted interest from China Resources Enterprise Ltd, Sun Art Retail Group Ltd, Japan’s Aeon Group, Woolworths and Thailand’s CP Group when it initially offered ParknShop for sale in August.
While Hutchison is still determining whether it will list Watson publically, it has confirmed it will not give up its controlling stake in the company.
Hutchison also announced plans to increase it operations on the Chinese mainland.
“The company will continue to implement an accelerated growth strategy with a particular focus in mainland China,” Hutchison said in a prepared statement.
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