They include 15 stores the French retailer closed earlier this month, three others that are reportedly making profits and are still open, and e-commerce and online activities.

Members of Auchan’s loyalty program will be shifted to Saigon Co.op’s if they so wish.

The Vietnamese retailer said merely the two parties have agreed on a final price without disclosing the amount. 

Saigon Co.op will run these stores until the Lunar New Year holiday in February 2020, after which the two sides will sit down to discuss further cooperation opportunities.

Do Quoc Huy, marketing director of Saigon Co.op, said Auchan’s closed stores would be reopened as Co.opmart, Co.optra or Finelife supermarkets.

Auchan, which came to Vietnam in 2015, had 13 outlets in HCMC, four in Hanoi and one in Tay Ninh Province northwest of HCMC, and employed around 1,000 people.

It had planned to invest $500 million and open 300 outlets, but stopped at 18 when business did not meet expectations.