British supermarket giant Tesco (LON:TSCO) has agreed to sell Homeplus, its South Korean unit, to private equity firm MBK Partners for £4.2 billion.

Tesco Chief Executive Dave Lewis commented: “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.”

This sale is the first major move since the chain delivered a record pre-tax loss of £6.4bn for the year to February, compared with a profit of £2.26 billion the year before; one of the largest in the country’s corporate history.

Tesco is currently trading down 0.99 percent at 184.10 pence per share (0843GMT)