Malaysia: Carrefour aggressive in Thailand

French hypermarket chain Carrefour said yesterday it would spend nearly 5bil baht (US$147mil) on expanding in Thailand where it saw no risk from a proposed tightening of foreign ownership laws.

“We are more aggressive about our investment here,” Philippe Broianigo, managing director of CenCar Ltd, which operates Carrefour’s 24 hypermarkets in Thailand, said in a statement outlining the company’s threeyear expansion plan.

The retailer expected to open at least four to five new outlets per year starting from 2008, and would consider any opportunity to expand more quickly, he said.

Carrefour, which planned to open two new stores this year, competes with Britain’s Tesco which has 56 outlets across the country. Big C Supercenter operates 47 stores and Siam Makro has 30.

“We’ve been missing many opportunities in the past. It’s time now to ring the bell and wake up,” Broianigo said.

Thailand’s government, installed after a military coup in September, jolted markets this month when it said it would amend the Foreign Business Act to close legal grey areas that have underpinned three decades of outside investment.

The proposed tightening of rules governing overseas firms elicited major criticism from foreign businessmen, but Broianigo saw little impact on Carrefour’s operations.

“We don’t see any business risk or potential impact of the amendment of the Foreign Business Act to stop us from investing in Thailand,” he said, adding the changes would make investment conditions “more precise.”

The company said it planned to restructure its management by increasing the number of Thai executives on the board to more than half, from two out of nine now. More Thai management staff would also be employed, he said.

Source: biz.thestar.com.my