• Bloomberg reports that Walmart's "efforts to acquire Latin American assets from Carrefour ... are slowing as the French retailer focuses on turning around its European business." The assets in question are in Brazil and Columbia, and the story notes that negotiations have been ongoing for some two years, with Walmart more aggressive about them than Carrefour.
According to the story, Walmart is looking to jump-start its growth with a strategic acquisition that will bolster its international operations.
• Reuters reports that Walmart attorneys "have flagged Brazil, China, India and South Africa in addition to Mexico, as countries that represent the highest corruption risk in a global review, according to a letter from lawmakers investigating the company.
The story notes that Walmart "has acknowledged it is investigating bribery allegations involving its Mexican operations, and that it is conducting a global review of its anti-corruption compliance program, but has not provided details about the review."
The information about the five countries identified as high corruption risks comes from two Democratic lawmakers chairing relative legislative committees looking into the corruption allegations. They released letters yesterday that were written to CEO Mike Duke asked for more information about the internal reviews being conducted by the retailer.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) said in the letter that " they have yet to receive documents related to the allegations. The world’s largest retailer hasn’t made executives or in-house staff available for questions and has only made outside attorneys available, according to the letter."
According to the story, Walmart is looking to jump-start its growth with a strategic acquisition that will bolster its international operations.
• Reuters reports that Walmart attorneys "have flagged Brazil, China, India and South Africa in addition to Mexico, as countries that represent the highest corruption risk in a global review, according to a letter from lawmakers investigating the company.
The story notes that Walmart "has acknowledged it is investigating bribery allegations involving its Mexican operations, and that it is conducting a global review of its anti-corruption compliance program, but has not provided details about the review."
The information about the five countries identified as high corruption risks comes from two Democratic lawmakers chairing relative legislative committees looking into the corruption allegations. They released letters yesterday that were written to CEO Mike Duke asked for more information about the internal reviews being conducted by the retailer.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) said in the letter that " they have yet to receive documents related to the allegations. The world’s largest retailer hasn’t made executives or in-house staff available for questions and has only made outside attorneys available, according to the letter."
- KC's View:
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Wait a minute. Brazil gets flagged as a hot spot for potential bribery, which means that people are paying attention. And at the same time, Walmart has a hard time closing on a deal there.
Coincidence?
Maybe. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if Walmart starts to see some slowing in its expansion if there's less of that bribery money to spread around.
