Japan’s largest supermarket chain, Aeon Corp., has decided to buy stakes in rivals Daiei Inc. and Maruetsu Inc., to cut purchasing and distribution costs, sources confirmed.
Aeon is said to have planned to buy 15 per cent of Daiei from trading house Marubeni Corp. and acquire 20 per cent of supermarket operator Maruetsu Inc. from Daiei. The official announcement in this regard may be released tomorrow. After this deal Aeon will become the second-largest shareholder of both companies.
The company believes that this deal will help it to reduce purchasing costs for food, clothing and other goods and allow it to share distribution and information systems.
