Lianhua joins battle for Trust-mart

China’s largest supermarket operator Lianhua will compete with Wal-Mart and Carrefour to buy Trust-mart, a nationwide Chinese retail chain with 100 stores in 20 cities, the Financial Times reported. Industry analysts expect Trust-mart, which was founded in 1997 by Taiwanese entrepreneurs, to be sold for more than the value of its yearly sales, estimated at about US$1 billion. Wal-Mart and Carrefour’s interest confirms the importance of China’s consumer markets to global companies, but the emergence of Lianhua as a potential bidder underlines the growing challenge posed to foreign acquirers by domestic companies. The Chinese operator, which is controlled indirectly by the Shanghai city government, is likely to submit preliminary bids by next week’s deadline, according to people close to the situation.