Keeping in line with its commitment to withdraw from non-core markets, French retailer Carrefour has sold its Indonesian unit to local joint venture partner CT Corp. The deal is worth $673 million.

Carrefour owned 60% stake in the joint venture in Indonesia. Carrefour’s Indonesian unit was the retailer’s second biggest Asian business after China going by the number of stores, and in Indonesia, it is the third largest retailer. Carrefour operates 84 stores in the country, 70 of them being hypermarkets.

CT Corp, controlled by Indonesian businessman Chairul Tanjung, will take full control of the Carrefour’s business, and the French retailer will become a franchisee. Carrefour’s Indonesian unit posted a revenue of €1 billion in 2011. Chairul’s retail business operator, PT Trans Retail, completed the deal on Monday. CT Corp had bought a 40% stake in Carrefour’s Indonesia operations two years ago.

Carrefour, which is the second biggest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart, has been pulling out of non-core markets and focusing on mature areas as part of its strategic planning. The retailer earlier this year sold its Columbian unit to Chilean Cencosud for $2.62 billion and Malaysian operations to Japan’s Aeon Co for $324 million.

Carrefour shed its Greece unit in July, and will shut Singapore operations by the end of this years. The Polish and Turkish businesses are under review.

Carrefour’s Indonesian deal has come as a surprise to nobody, as speculation was rife that the company is already into talks with its joint venture partner. The French retailer has seen huge losses, with its global business being hit by recession. The company is focusing on core markets, namely, Western Europe, China and core Latin America; which has seen an economic boom.

The company plans to revamp its European business, mainly in home territory in France, and also other Eurozone countries, which contributed to a fifth of its revenue last year.

Although CT Corp has said that the unit will look at a 30% growth rate next year, experts are skeptical and have remarked that it is a very target to achieve.