Moscow, May 20 - French retailer Auchan plans to invest 320 million euros ($498.2 million) in expanding its store chains in the Moscow region, local government data showed on Tuesday.
Some 300 million euros will be spent on opening more of the company's Leroy Merlin home-improvement stores by 2010, according to a list of the Moscow region's planned investment projects, which was obtained by Reuters.
The remaining 20 million euros will be used to open more Decathlon sporting goods stores by 2009.
Auchan, which has been present in the Russian market since 2001, operates 18 food hypermarkets in the country's nine regions, as well as three Leroy Merlin outlets and one Decathlon in the Moscow region.
The group operates 1,130 hypermarkets in 12 countries.