China Resources and Tesco consider ParknShop buy

State-owned retail group China Resources Enterprise (0291.HKG) may team up with UK peer Tesco (TESO.NYSE, TSCO.LON) to bid for billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Hong Kong supermarket chain, Bloomberg reported. China Resources may raise debt and will consider selling “non-core assets” to fund a purchase of the ParknShop chain, Frank Lai, chief financial officer for the Chinese company, said at an earnings briefing on Wednesday. Li’s biggest company, Hutchison Whampoa (13.HKG), is considering selling the grocer. China Resources this month announced a joint venture with Tesco that will see the UK firm merge its 131 stores in China with the Hong Kong-based company.