Tesco completes China exit with $357 mln stake sale

Britain's biggest retailer Tesco has completed its exit from China with the 275 million pound ($357 million) sale of its joint venture stake to state-run partner China Resources Holdings.

Ciara Lee reports

Having struggled to crack the Chinese market, Tesco is heading to the checkout.

Britain's biggest retailer is making its exit from China with the $357 million sale of its joint venture stake to state-run partner China Resources Holdings.

Tesco established the Gain Land venture with CRH in 2014.

It combined the British group's 131 stores in China with its partner's almost 3,000.

The deal is scheduled to complete at the end of the week.

Tesco shares were up 0.7% on the news, extending its gains over the last year to 12.4%.

It says it will now focus on core operations.

The supermaket giant has retreated from a number of global projects - making costly exits from Japan and the U.S., as well as the sale of its South Korean business.

It's currently reviewing operations in Thailand and Malaysia.

A departure from there would mean Tesco's only remaining overseas operations, apart from Ireland, would be its central European division with stores in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.