French retailer Carrefour, yesterday agreed to sell its Colombian assets to Chile's Cencosud for €2 billion ($2.62 billion) in order to reduce debt.

Carrefour, the world's second biggest retailer after Wal-Mart, which is exiting Singapore and Greece, said that the sale is part of its strategy to pull out of non-core markets.

"This transaction is in line with Carrefour's new strategy of focusing on geographies and countries in which it holds or aims to develop a leading position," Carrefour said in a statement.

Present in Colombia since 1998, Carrefour operates 72 hypermarkets, 16 convenience stores and 4 cash and carry stores in the country, with annual sales of € 1.5 billion.

Carrefour would use proceeds raised from the sale to reduce its debt, which stood at €6.9-billion at the end of 2011.

With an 18-per cent market share in Colombia, Carrefour has been struggling to compete with market leader Exito, which controls 43 per cent of the country's retail market.

After having sold a part of its Asian operations in 2010, analysts question Carrefour's future in Brazil, which is its second largest market after France.

Hit by consumer spending in Europe, the Boulogne-Billancourt-based company has made up in Latin America, which is its fastest growing region having generated 8.5 per cent of its €81.3 billion revenues in 2011.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Santiago-based Cencosud, controlled by billionaire Horst Paulmann, is Latin America's third-largest retailer, operating stores in Chile, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia.

The company operations extend to businesses such as supermarkets, home centres, department stores, shopping malls and financial services.

Cencosud also boasts other lines of business that complement its central operation, which include an insurance brokerage, family entertainment centers and a travel agency.

Cencosud, which had 2011 revenues of $15.49 billion, has signed a $2.5 billion credit contract with JPMorgan to fund the acquisition, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.