Wal-Mart Announces Additional Central American Investment
Mike Duke, Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , and head of Wal-Mart International, announced today the company has made an additional investment in Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), bringing its share of the firm to 51%.

CARHCO is Central America's leading retailer, with 375 supermarkets and other stores in the following five countries: Guatemala (124), El Salvador (58), Honduras (35), Nicaragua (33) and Costa Rica (125).

CARHCO has approximately 23,000 associates. Its sales during 2005 were approximately us$2.2 billion.

In Costa Rica, CARHCO, operates the chain of Mas x Menos and Palí supermarkets and the Hipermas department stores. In September 2005, Wal-Mart acquired the 33 1/3 % interest in CARHCO owned by Dutch retailer Royal Ahold NV, and Walmart products started to appear on store shelves shortly after the acquisition.

CARHCO was formed as a joint venture in 2001 with three equal partners: Ahold and two Central American groups: the Paiz family, the major shareholders of La Fragua, with headquarters in Guatemala, and Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos (CSU), with headquarters in Costa Rica.

Terms of the original investment or the additional purchase from the other CARHCO partners were not disclosed.

"This additional investment demonstrates our confidence in the partnership and in the future of this business in Central America," Duke said. He added that the name CARHCO would be replaced by Wal-Mart Central America, but that no immediate changes were planned in the names of any of the store formats operating throughout the region. "We also want to emphasize that CARHCO's strong relationships with suppliers throughout Central America will be strengthened in the future by Wal-Mart Central America," Duke said.

Rodrigo Uribe, whose family founded Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos, S.A., one of the original CARHCO partners, will be chairman of Wal-Mart Central America's board of directors. Vice chairman will be Fernando Paiz, whose family founded La Fragua, S.A., also a CARHCO partner. Uribe and Paiz said they and other family members would remain active in management of the company.

Uribe expressed his optimism about Wal-Mart's investment. "This will enable the corporation to provide a larger assortment, better service and prices to consumers in Central America," he said. "Our leadership in Central America is the result of our customer's loyalty and with Wal-Mart we will reinforce our commitment to them." Uribe added, "Wal-Mart Central America will bring more development opportunities to our Associates and Vendors, maintaining our characteristic sense of social responsibility."

"The improvements we anticipate in this company will further strengthen the economy of the region," Uribe said. He noted that during 2006, Wal-Mart Central America plans to invest in building new stores and remodeling existing facilities. More than 6,000 jobs are expected to be created in the next two years in order to meet the personnel needs of this new store program.

Paiz emphasized that Wal-Mart Central America will stimulate the export of products grown or manufactured in the region. An example of this is a recent agreement signed for shipment of pineapples from Costa Rica to Wal-Mart stores in the United States, and other export agreements are under development, Paiz said.

Currently Wal-Mart directly imports more than $350 million in goods from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In addition, Wal- Mart purchases goods from many suppliers with farms and factories in Central America.