The board of the world's second-biggest retailer, Carrefour (CARR.PA), approved a plan to spin off 25 percent of its property unit and all of discount chain Dia in a bid to revive its share price and return equity to shareholders. Carrefour, undermined by two profit warnings last year, said in a statement on Tuesday that the plan would "allow it to unlock the embedded value of its real estate assets" and focus on core activities. Carrefour Property had a gross asset value of 11 billion euros ($15.2 billion) in 2009, almost half of the group's market capitalisation, while analysts value Dia at between 3.5 billion and 4.0 billion.
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