JAKARTA - AN INDONESIAN watchdog ruled on Tuesday that a subsidiary of French supermarket chain Carrefour was in breach of anti-monopoly rules and ordered it to sell its stake in local retailer Alfa Retailindo.

The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) ordered Carrefour Indonesia to sell its 75-per cent stake in Alfa, which it acquired for 674 billion rupiah (S$99.4 million) earlier this year. It also fined Carrefour 25 billion rupiah for breaching Indonesia's competition rules.

'Carrefour has one year to sell its stake in Alfa Retailindo,' KPPU commissioner Dedie Martadisastra, who presided at the court, said.

The commission found that Carrefour's share in the wholesale market stood at 67 per cent as of June, up from 45 per cent before the acquisition took place. Its share in the retail market stood at 48 per cent, up from 38 per cent.

Carrefour Indonesia corporate affairs director Irawan Kadarman disputed the commission's findings. 'We think that our share in the market is far from dominant,' he told AFP.

The ruling comes four days after a Taiwanese court rejected a Carrefour appeal against a fine for misleading advertisements. -- AFP