JAKARTA: The Indonesia subsidiary of French supermarket chain Carrefour on Wednesday challenged an antitrust ruling ordering it to sell its 75 per cent stake in local retailer Alfa Retailindo.

The Business Competition Supervisory Commission on Tuesday ordered Carrefour Indonesia to sell its stake in Alfa to outside parties after it ruled that the chain dominated more than 50 per cent of the market.

"We'll attempt to overturn the commission's ruling after we receive the official notification," Carrefour Indonesia lawyer Ignatius Andy told a press conference. "The commission's findings are baseless."

He said Carrefour's market share in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy with a market of 234 million people, was only 17 per cent according to independent studies.

"Alfa's market share is very small. There's no way that we can dominate the market by acquiring it," he said.

Carrefour bought Alfa in 2008 for 674 billion rupiah (70.9 million dollars). It has 45 stores and Alfa has 30 stores across Indonesia.

The Indonesian watchdog's ruling came four days after a Taiwanese court rejected a Carrefour appeal against a fine for misleading advertisements.

Carrefour is the world's second biggest retailer after Wal-Mart of the United States.


- AFP/so