Local conglomerate Royal Group and South Korea’s largest retailer, E-Mart, signed a memorandum of understanding last Friday to form a new joint venture to invests in a hypermarket—a massive retail outlet that combines a supermarket with a department store—in Cambodia. Rami Sharaf, senior vice president of Royal Group, said if all goes as planned, “E-Mart Royal” could be operational as soon as the first quarter of 2019. According to him, the two companies would invest up to $120mn in the joint venture. The location of the hypermarket has yet to be determined, but sources said it would occupy three hectares of land, most likely in the capital’s Sen Sok district. E-Mart is the largest retailer in South Korea with 160 stores across the country as of the end of 2016. (Source: Phnom Penh Post)