Any one else see the irony in this Will Wal-Mart be selling them back thier own shitty exports?


Wal-Mart to buy Chinese 'hypermarket' chain: report
ROMA LUCIW , Globe and Mail Update




Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reached an agreement to buy a chain of super-centre stores in China for about $1-billion (U.S.), a deal that could give the American retailer the biggest food and department store network in China, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website Monday.

The purchase of the Chinese super-stores of Trust-Mart, a closely-held Taiwanese company, would give the world's largest retailer access to China's fast-growing market, the Journal said. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart recently quit operations in both Germany and South Korea.

The proposed deal, which still needs to be approved by Chinese regulators, would give Wal-Mart more super-centres in China than its main rival, Carrefour SA of France. Wal-Mart beat out Carrefour for the Trust-Mart purchase, the Journal said, citing unnamed people involved in the deal.

Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer by sales after Wal-Mart, is credited with inventing the hypermarket format — a giant super centre store selling a wide range of general merchandise and food.

Wal-Mart currently has a total of 66 stores in China, including 61 hypermarkets. Details of the payment weren't disclosed although the Journal story said the transaction for the new stores would take place in phases.

If you can't beat them, buy them.