Temasek, which owns a 25% stake of AS Watson, was considering selling about 10% of the retailer after receiving preliminary interest, Bloomberg News reported earlier this year. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund and Chinese internet giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding were among parties that had shown interest in the stake, people familiar with the matter have said.
“As per our company policy, we do not comment on market speculation and rumors,” Temasek said in an emailed statement.
Temasek will keep looking into ways to improve the retailer’s valuation, one of the people said. It could still resume the sale process in the future, the people said. The Singapore investment firm bought the stake in AS Watson, which is a unit of Hong Kong tycoon Victor Li’s CK Hutchison Holdings, for HK$44 billion ($7.8 billion) in 2014.
Founded in Hong Kong in 1841, AS Watson runs more than 15,200 stores in 25 markets, including Kruidvat drugstores in the Netherlands and Rossmann pharmacies in Germany, according to its website. It also runs the Watsons chain of healthcare and beauty shops across Asia, as well as groceries, electronics shops and wine stores in Hong Kong. Among its 140,000 employees worldwide, 12,900 are based in the former British colony.
