Global investment company KKR has signed a definitive agreement to divest its ownership stakes in supermarket chain Seiyu to Japanese distribution and retail operator, Trial. The transaction is valued at 380bn yen ($2.

Japan's Trial Holdings said on Wednesday it would spend 382.6 billion yen ($2.55 billion) to acquire the Seiyu supermarket chain controlled by U.S. private equity fund KKR. Trial said in a release it would use existing cash and newly arranged bank borrowings to purchase Seiyu and make it a wholly owned subsidiary.

This deal comes after a series of takeovers in Seiyu over the past two decades, with Walmart initially purchasing a 6% holding in the business in 2006, before a full acquisition in 2008.