Japanese trading house Itochu said it will buy a 3% stake in Japanese supermarket operator Uny to expand into China, Reuters reported. Uny, which also runs the Circle K Sunkus convenience store chain, plans to open 10 supermarkets in China. Itochu will purchase Uny shares on the market by the end of March 2010 for around US$43.8 million, and will become Uny’s largest shareholder. Uny and Itochu, which operates FamilyMart convenience stores, did not comment on the possibility of combining their respective convenience store chains, saying only that there were possibilities for cooperation.
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