Singapore’s state-owned investment company Temasek Group is part of the consortium announced today as the successful bidder for Tesco Homeplus in Korea.

The British grocery giant formally announced the sale in a media statement this afternoon ICT time.

The successful bidders is a consortium led by MBK and which includes Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and the Canadian Pension Fund.

The sale was for £4.004 billion and represents an enterprise value of £4.240 billion on cash and debt free basis.

Tesco says the sale will reduce its debt burden by £4.225 billion.

Settlement is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of this year and remains conditional on Tesco shareholder approval and Korean government regulatory approvals.

“After a highly competitive process, we are announcing today the proposed sale of Homeplus, our business in the Republic of Korea,” said Tesco CEO Dave Lewis in a statement.

“This sale realises material value for shareholders and allows us to make significant progress on our strategic priority of protecting and strengthening our balance sheet.”

Lewis said he was confident the agreement with MBK Partners will present “an exciting opportunity” for the staff of the Homeplus operation.

Homeplus marks the largest Tesco business internationally outside the UK. It has more than 400 stores, 500 franchises and serves more than 6 million customers each week.

HSBC Bank acted as lead financial adviser and Barclays Bank as financial adviser and sponsor to Tesco in relation to the disposal.