Walmart to sell Argentina stores to South American retail group

(Reuters) – Walmart Inc , the world’s largest retailer, said on Friday it would sell its retail operations in Argentina to South American supermarket chain owner Grupo de Narváez.

The company did not disclose the size of the deal but said it would record about a $1 billion after-tax, non-cash loss related to the divestiture in its third-quarter next year.

Walmart Argentina started operating in 1995 and currently has more than 90 stores and some 9,000 employees.

With the acquisition, Grupo de Narváez will own 656 stores including supermarkets, and apparel and home appliance outlets in nine countries including Ecuador and Uruguay, and employ more than 24,500 workers. (https://bit.ly/2JCP8sh)

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)