Sources told Bloomberg that the Charoen Pokphand Group, or the CP Group, and Woolworths Ltd were said to be thinking of abandoning their bids for Hong Kong supermarket chain ParknShop. Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont owns the CP Group. One of the sources also told Bloomberg that the CP Group was concerned about its financial capacity of managing the grocery chain once the acquisition would be completed. ParknShop is owned by investment holding firm Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.
DBS Vickers Hong Kong Analyst Titus Wu said about Hutchison Whampoa's plan to sell ParknShop, "There are so many people who want to buy, but they are dropping out because it's expensive and you can see the problem is with the seller. If they want to sell, they should cut the price." In August, a source also told Bloomberg that Hutchison was selling ParknShop for USD 3 billion to USD 4 billion.
People with knowledge of the process also revealed that in addition to Woolworths and the CP Group, other bidders for the supermarket chain included China Resources Enterprise, Sun Art Retail Group and Aeon Co.
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