TOKYO, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Wal-Mart said Monday it will spend nearly 900 million dollars to wholly acquire struggling subsidiary Seiyu, saying Japan was crucial for the US retailing giant.

Wal-Mart bought a controlling 50.9 percent stake in Seiyu in December 2005 but has failed to salvage Seiyu, which continued to wallow in the red in its latest earnings report released Tuesday.

The world's largest retailer said it will launch a tender offer of 100 billion yen (876.65 million dollars) starting Tuesday to entirely own Seiyu.

TOKYO, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Wal-Mart said Monday it will spend nearly 900 million dollars to wholly acquire struggling subsidiary Seiyu, saying Japan was crucial for the US retailing giant.

Wal-Mart bought a controlling 50.9 percent stake in Seiyu in December 2005 but has failed to rescue Seiyu from wallowing in the red.

The world's largest retailer said it will launch a tender offer of 100 billion yen (876.65 million dollars) starting Tuesday to entirely own Seiyu.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - The US retail giant Wal-Mart is keen to open stores in Malaysia, a junior minister said Friday, amid a government drive to lure investment and boost economic growth.

'Wal-Mart has shown interest,' deputy trade minister S. Veerasingam told AFP, but he declined to elaborate further amid reports the company had formally applied to enter the Malaysian market.

He added that German company Metro, one of Europe's largest retailers, had applied for permission to set up operations.

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - The world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., said Wednesday it had won approval from Mexico's government to open banking centers in its Mexican stores.

A spokesman for Wal-Mart de Mexico, Wilfred Castro, said the US retail giant was initially planning to open between 10 and 15 new banking centers in the country.

Wal-Mart said it won approval to operate bank branches from the Mexican Banking Commission on Monday.

Branches of Banco Wal-Mart de Mexico Adelante will be located in existing Wal-Mart stores and retail outlets.

NEW YORK, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world's largest retailer, reported Tuesday strong quarterly sales and earnings, but expressed disappointment over its underlying performance and lowered its outlook for the rest of its 2008 business year.

The US discount giant said net profit for the second quarter ended July 31 soared 49 percent from a year ago to 3.10 billion dollars. The leap in large part was due to a charge of 863 million dollars in the 2007 second quarter taken for a business divestment in Germany.

TOKYO, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Wal-Mart's Japanese unit, Seiyu Ltd., said Tuesday it no longer expected to break even this year amid falling sales but said the US retail giant would stay in Japan despite a competitive market.

Seiyu said its operating loss widened in the first six months of the year on weak sales, particularly of seasonal products such as clothing.

'I am disappointed that we were unable to achieve our sales and profit targets,' Seiyu chief executive Ed Kolodzieski told a news conference.

TOKYO, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - US retail giant Wal-Mart's Japanese unit, Seiyu Ltd., said Tuesday it no longer expected to break even this year after its revenue slipped in the first six months.

Seiyu reported disappointing first-half sales in seasonal merchandise such as apparel. But it said it trimmed net losses in the six months to June as it continued to integrate with Wal-Mart.

NEW DELHI, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - Indian Telecommunication firm Bharti Enterprises and US-based retail giant Wal-Mart on Monday announced a 50:50 joint venture for a new chain of wholesale stores in India to serve small retail shops.

The 'partnership of equals' would be named Bharti, Wal-Mart Private Ltd., said Rajan Bharti Mittal, managing director of Bharti Retail

We have signed the joint venture which will be a cash and carry to serve small retailers,' Mittal told a press conference in the capital New Delhi.

NEW DELHI, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - Indian Telecommunication firm Bharti Enterprises and US-based retail giant Wal-Mart on Monday announced a 50:50 joint venture for a new chain of wholesale stores in India to serve small retail shops.

The 'partnership of equals' would be named Bharti, Wal-Mart Private Ltd., said Rajan Bharti Mittal, managing director of Bharti Retail

We have signed the joint venture which will be a cash and carry to serve small retailers,' Mittal told a press conference in the capital New Delhi.

NEW DELHI, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - Indian Telecommunication firm Bharti Enterprises and US-based retail giant Wal-Mart were Monday to lay out plans for a new chain of retail stores in India.

The two firms scheduled a press conference in the Indian capital for later in the day, public relations and advertising firm Rediffusion DYR, which handles the Bharti account, told AFP.

The two firms were to announce eight initial stores billed as 'cash-and-carry,' Bharti Enterprise chief Sunil Mittal told the private business news channel NDTV Profit.