Clara Ferreira Marques, Columnist

Thai Tycoons May Find Tesco Is Closed

The sale of the U.K. retailer’s Southeast Asian supermarkets faces stiff scrutiny from a strengthened antitrust regulator.

January 15, 2020 at 11:00 PM UTC

By Clara Ferreira Marques

Clara Ferreira Marques is a managing editor for Commodities and Energy in Asia. Previously, she was a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and editorial board member.

There's a tough new antitrust regulator blocking the checkout aisle.
Photographer: MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images

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Bangkok’s billionaires don’t usually have to contend with much resistance as they expand. Tesco Plc’s sale of its Southeast Asian supermarkets may be about to change that.

The $32 billion British retailer said in December it was considering selling the group’s stores in Thailand and Malaysia, becoming the latest international grocery giant to bow out of Asia. First-round bids for the asset, estimated to be worth between $7 billion and $9 billion, are due this week. Suitors are likely to be drawn from local conglomerates, among them: Dhanin Chearavanont’s CP Group; Central Group, controlled by the Chirathivat family; and beer-and-spirits magnate Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's TCC Group.