Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Carrefour SA, Europe's biggest retailer, plans to sell shares in a real-estate unit and buy back as much as 4.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) of stock, bowing to pressure from investors.

The French supermarket owner, which reported a smaller- than-estimated increase in profit today, will sell a stake in Carrefour Property in an initial public offering next year. The unit will own 60 percent of Carrefour's 24 billion-euro real- estate holdings, the Paris-based retailer said today.

Billionaire Bernard Arnault and U.S. real-estate investment fund Colony Capital LLC jointly bought almost 10 percent of Carrefour in March and have pressed Chief Executive Officer Jose Luis Duran to sell property. Carrefour owns more than 1,000 superstores from China to Brazil.

``This is clearly very good news because it will liberate lots of cash,'' said Thierry Girardet, who manages about $90 million at Fival SA in Paris, including Carrefour shares. ``Arnault and Colony are obviously behind it. They want fast return on investment.''

Duran said at a press conference that the retailer will keep 80 percent of the company, which will own 280 superstores and 540 smaller supermarkets in France, Italy and Spain.

Carrefour shares erased gains of as much as 4.6 percent today and closed up 1 cent to 52.15 euros in Paris. They've added 13 percent this year.

`Masterstroke'

Speculation about transactions involving real estate drove retail stocks higher across Europe this year. Britain's J Sainsbury Plc received two offers this year from potential buyers attracted by the company's property.

Duran previously estimated the company's property was worth 15 billion euros, compared with Colony founder Thomas Barrack's contention that the real estate could fetch twice as much.

``It's a masterstroke,'' Barbara Ambrus, an analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, said in an interview. ``This allows the company to keep control over the real estate and raise money at the same time.''

Unibail-Rodamco SA, Europe's largest owner of shopping centers, said two days ago that the value of its malls in France, Belgium, Spain and central Europe rose in the first half, driven by a shortage investment properties. First-half rental income at Unibail's malls in France rose 14 percent.

French Real Estate

Return on retail properties was 24 percent in France and 19 percent in Spain last year, outperforming the rest of Europe, according to London-based Investment Property Databank Ltd. France and Spain are Carrefour's biggest markets.

Carrefour's French rival Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA created a publicly traded company called Mercialys two years ago to raise money for expansion. Casino still owns 44 percent of Mercialys, which holds all of its parent's supermarket land.

``Casino has a different operation,'' Duran said. ``We want to keep 80 percent to retain control over our operational costs and make sure that we can stick to our policy of low prices.''

The retailer said it plans to sell as much as 1.5 billion euros of operations by the end of next year to raise cash for takeovers, without being more specific. Carrefour divested its Portuguese operations last month for 662 million euros and sold its part of a Swiss joint venture for $390 million last week.

Duran said the company was ``interested'' in the Turkish market, declining to comment on speculation Carrefour may attempt to acquire Migros Turk TAS, the nation's biggest chain.

Italian Price Cuts

He said Carrefour won't exit Italy as part of any asset sales, and plans ``radical price cutting'' in that market. ``Italy is clearly not doing well,'' he said. ``We are aggressively repositioning prices there.''

Duran also said Carrefour plans to open 1.2 million square meters' worth of new stores per year, excluding acquisitions, with that new space focused in developing countries. The retailer plans to open its first stores in Russia next year.

Carrefour today reported a 3.3 percent increase in first- half profit. Net income climbed to 729 million euros from 706 million euros a year earlier, missing the 736 million-euro median estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Earnings before interest and tax were little changed at 1.36 billion euros, matching estimates. Net income before discontinued activities was 741 million euros. Sales climbed 5.9 percent to 22.6 billion euros, the company said last month.

Carrefour has 100 superstores in China, the world's most populous country, where retail sales climbed 15 percent in the first half. The company in July raised a goal for Chinese expansion as its 100th local superstore opened business. Latin American sales were boosted after the purchase of Brazilian discount superstore chain Atacadao in April.

The retailer confirmed its target of 6.4 percent sales growth this year. Earnings before interest and tax will rise at a slower pace than sales, Carrefour said. Atacadao and Polish stores acquired from Royal Ahold NV will add 2.3 billion euros to full-year sales.

Ahold, the biggest Dutch retailer, reported a record quarterly profit today. Net income climbed to 2.22 billion euros from 214 million euros a year earlier, boosted by a 7.1 billion- euro divestment of its U.S. Foodservice unit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ladka Bauerova in Paris at lbauerova@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 30, 2007 12:18 EDT