Thai conglomerate CP Group is in talks with Korean retailer E-Mart to buy five of its six stores in Shanghai, China, according to the Korea Herald.
E-mart is in the process of selling it operations in China after four years of poor performance, with an operating lost of an estimated US$130m.
Local media are reporting that E-mart will completely withdraw from China by the end of 2017. E-mart first opened its stores in 1997, but began downsizing in 2011, before making the decision to withdraw entirely.
The retailer was hit by consumer backlash and boycotts of Korean products after the Korean government announced it would install US missile defense system Thaad, which the Chinese government opposed.
The sale of the five E-mart stores to CP Group, which operates the Lotus supermarket chain in China, needs approval by Chinese regulators, with the future of the sixth E-mart store still unknown.
