Retail giant Walmart is to convert its compulsary convertible debentures it owns in Cedar Support, the holding company for Bharti Retail, into equity shares.

The conversion will see Walmart taking 49 per cent stake in Cedar Support.

“Walmart has invested (CCDs worth Rs 455.8 crore) in CSSL, an Indian-owned and operated firm that provides real estate advisory, facilities management, design and construction and other services crucial to our growth plans and India’s overall infrastructure development,” the Walmart India spokesperson said.

Cedar Support will use the investment to inject more equity into Bharti Retail, which plans to triple its store count from 228 to 638 by 2018.

Bharti Retail operates hypermarket chain ‘easyday Hyper’, neighbourhood stores ‘easyday’ and compact hypermarket chain ‘easyday Market’.