Hong Kong (CNN Business) Walmart is retreating from Japan, giving up on a near 20-year attempt to crack the grocery market in the world's third largest economy. Walmart WMT Rakuten RKUNF is selling most of its stake in Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu to KKR andin a deal that values Seiyu at 172.5 billion yen ($1.6 billion). The deal will give private equity fund KKR majority ownership of Seiyu with a 65% stake, Japanese e-commerce leader Rakuten will own 20% and Walmart will hold on to 15%, the companies said in a statement on Monday. Rakuten and KKR said they will accelerate investment in Seiyu's digital operations, as the pandemic drives up demand for online shopping in Japan. "We look forward to accelerating digital transformation of Seiyu brick and mortar retail and further merging the best of offline and online retail," Kazunori Takeda, Rakuten's executive vice president, said in a statement.

Source: CNN November 16, 2020 10:41 UTC