Abu Dhabi: Lulu Group is in the final stages of starting its operations in Malaysia with the first hypermarket slated to open in February 2016 in Kuala Lumpur city, the retail giant announced on Monday.
“We plan to initially invest RM 1.3 billion ($300 million) in rolling out 10 hypermarkets in the next 2 years and gradually expand to all parts of Malaysia,” Yusuffali M.A, Chairman and Managing Director of Lulu Group said.
“Today the whole world knows about Malaysia’s economic stability, investor friendly approach, liberalised policies and world-class infrastructure and we are confident about our success here.”
He unveiled plans of the group’s expansion during official luncheon hosted by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Lulu currently operates 118 Hypermarkets and Shopping Malls in the Middle East and India.
The group employs more than 35,000 people from different countries and the projects in Malaysia will provide 5,000 jobs to Malaysians, according to Yusuffali.
“To better equip Malaysian citizens employed by us, we will train them in all our Hypermarkets here and will also take them to our other outlets in the Middle East,” he said.
Lulu is also one of the biggest importers of Malaysian agricultural products and non-food products to the Middle East.
The group has already finalised agreements with prominent retail developers in Malaysia including Greenhill Resources Sdn Bhd (Setia City Mall), KLIA Properties (for their new project in Bangi), PNB Commerce (Perling Mall in Johar Baru) etc to start their operations.
Discussions are also progressing with Federal Land Development Authority of Malaysia (Felda) for projects in other parts of the country.
