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Tesco to inject assets, cash into China Resources' retail JV

Trolleys are stacked outside a Tesco store in Hammersmith, west London October 3, 2012. REUTERS/Paul Hackett

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tesco Plc will inject retail assets and HK$4.325 billion (344.9 million pounds) in cash into a hypermarket joint venture with China Resources Enterprise Ltd <0291.HK>, the state-backed Chinese firm said on Wednesday.

China Resources will hold 80 percent of the venture, while Tesco will take 20 percent, according to a filing to the Hong Kong bourse.


The joint venture will operate hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, cash and carry businesses and liquor stores in China.

In August, China Resources signed a joint venture with Tesco in a move that would bring their combined market share close to market leader Sun Art Retail Group Ltd <6808.

China's second-largest supermarket chain also bid in August for ParknShop, Hong Kong's biggest supermarket chain controlled by tycoon Li Ka-shing, in a move analysts said would help the beer-to-retail conglomerate expand market share through a quality brand.

(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Michael Urquhart)