>>135 Mycal's troubles could open up Japan's select market
September 27, 2001 9:09am
Source: The Grocer, September 22, 2001
Foreign buyers could pick up some stores from ailing Japanese supermarket chain Mycal either as a vehicle for market entry or as a means of boosting market share in Japan, according to analysts.
Mycal finally filed for bankruptcy protection last week after its main bank Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank (DKB) withdrew its support.
The fourth largest retailer in Japan, operating supermarkets, department stores and shopping centres, Mycal has chalked up debts in excess of GBP10bn. Last month alone, it received 50bn yen (GBP290m) in short-term financing from DKB.
According to local press reports, Mycal has resumed tie-up talks with Wal-Mart which were broken off earlier this month in a last ditch bid to secure support from its biggest creditors.
Were Wal-Mart or another party to assist Mycal as a sponsor, it would have first option to take over the entire business.
However, half of Mycal's 227 stores are loss-making, and potential buyers are unlikely to be interested in them all and unwilling to shoulder Mycal's colossal debts, said analysts.
Without a sponsor, the business is in danger of collapse, leaving creditors to bear the losses and foreign entrants with an opportunity to cherry pick the best stores.
Mycal said over 30 companies had come forward as potential sponsors, several from overseas.
Tesco has had research teams in Japan for more than 18 months, but deputy chairman David Reid categorically denied the company had any interest in Mycal's assets.
However, analysts said Carrefour might be interested in picking up selected Mycal sites to help it build critical mass in a market where planning permission is hard to come by and attractive acquisitions are rare.
Former Mycal Corp. President Kozo Yamashita told the Yomiuri Shimbun on Friday, the same day he resigned, that the company conducted pre-bankruptcy tie-up negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of the United States and Japan's largest supermarket chain operator Aeon Co, previously Jusco Co.
Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and former Mycal President Osamu Shikata started negotiations with Aeon in June. In August, however, Mycal suddenly switched to Wal-Mart for tie-up negotiations when Aeon's interest declined.
Yamashita said in the interview that Mycal and Wal-Mart were planning to integrate the management of Mycal's twenty to thirty profitable stores, while scrapping some of the rest.
He said Wal-Mart's executives visited Japan three times to inspect Mycal stores to judge whether Wal-Mart's distribution and management styles could work in the Japanese market.
Mycal filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14, after Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank made a decision to halt its financial support. Under a reconstruction plan drafted by Shikata and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank based on the Company Rehabilitation Law, Aeon was to support Mycal, and the bank was to provide a loan of about 60 billion yen to the company after it filed for court protection under the Company Rehabilitation Law.
Instead, Mycal chose the Civil Rehabilitation Law, which went into effect in April last year, Yamashita said, because "If (Mycal) received support from a domestic supermarket chain backed by banks (under the company rehabilitation law), we would have had to close chain stores that were competing with those of the supporting company. Meanwhile, I thought that if we tied up with a foreign company under the Civil Rehabilitation Law, we could keep as many stores as possible open and secure more jobs."
The Civil Rehabilitation Law is designed to help failed companies achieve a speedier and easier rehabilitation than under other bankruptcy laws.
Wal-Mart to open some 50 discount stores, 180-185 Supercenters in 2002-03 BENTONVILLE, AR, Oct 02, 2001 (AFX-Europe via COMTEX) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc said in the year beginning Feb 1, 2002, it will open approximately 50 discount stores and 180-185 Supercenters in the US as well as 15-20 Neighbourhood Markets and 50-55 Sam's Clubs, while Wal-Mart International will open 120-130 units in existing markets.
Looking at the openings outside the US, projects are scheduled in each country in which Wal-Mart operates. These include new stores and clubs as well as relocations of a few existing units. They include include several restaurants, department stores and supermarkets in Mexico. Germany will continue with the remodeling of the acquired hypermarkets.
一応、最新ニュースかも The report also predicts Wal-Mart will enter the Japanese market"either through a joint venture with a leading retailer or through a major acquisitio".
Wal-Mart has declined to comment on reports it is mulling an alliance with cash strapped Japanese supermarket Mycal as a vehicle for market entry.
Local papers report Wal-Mart has entered negotiations with Mycal in a 100bn yen (GBP583m) deal in which Mycal would close its unprofitable stores and let Wal-Mart take over the remaining 96.
October 4, 2001 7:11am Financial Times Limited だとさ
HOUSTON (AP)A South Texas jury has ruled that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. must pay $13 million to the family of a woman falsely accused of shoplifting.
The nation's No. 1 retailer was sued by Irene Aguilera of Houston after she spent almost a month in jail in 1994 on charges that she participated in a shoplifting ring, her lawyer, Jim Sharp, said.
The charges were dropped after prosecutors determined there was no evidence to support them, Sharp said.
Aguilera sued Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart in 1995 and company investigator Wayne Cruickshank, but died in July 2000 from symptoms related to a skin disease.
A Rio Grande City jury returned the verdict Friday. The jury award will be split among her three children, Sharp said.
"Wal-Mart will appeal," company spokesman Bill Wertz said.
Kirindo: net profits plummet due to Mycal's failure, Mar-Aug 2001.
October 23, 2001 6:53am
Net profits of the drugstore chain operator, Kirindo, fell by 36.9% in Mar-Aug 2001 to Yen 119 M as a result of the failure of the major supermarket operator, Mycal Corp and its application of the Civil Rehabilitation Law.
Guarantee money had been deposited by Kirindo for the opening of its stores within Mycal's facilities.
The company achieved an 18.8% increase in sales to Yen 15,918 M, operating profits were up 45.4% to Yen 464 M and ordinary profits rose 45.5% to Yen 517 M.
For the six months, there was a 19.2% increase in non-consolidated sales to Yen 15,652 M, a 48.6% rise in operating profits to Yen 438 M and a 42.2% increase in ordinary profits to Yen 496 M.
Net profits were down 47.1% to Yen 104 M.
Consolidated forecasts are given for the full year ending Feb 2002.
Consolidated sales are forecast at Yen 33,157 M, with Yen 958 M in ordinary profits and Yen 325 M in net profits.
289 名前: 乙女 投稿日: 01/10/24 00:44
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290 名前: 田子の浦の鰹 投稿日: 01/10/24 01:49
田子の浦の鰹 tako no urano kazuo と読みます。 このスレは、多くのマイカル従業員のためのクリッピングサービスです。
giants prepare for mycal battle October 24, 2001 11:10am
International retail giants Carrefour and Wal-Mart are in the frame to pick up some stores from bankrupt Japanese supermarket Mycal, according to local press reports.
Mycal filed for court protection in September after its main bank Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank withdrew its support and is looking for a sponsor to ease its financial problems.
Over the coming weeks, the current shortlist of 20 will be whittled down to five possible candidates. Big names understood to be in the running include Costco, Wal-Mart and Carrefour.
Mycal rejected an offer for 20 Mycal stores this week from local retailer Izumiya because it wants a buyer interested in a larger portion of the estate.