Reversing losses in Japan would be an added boost to Wal-Mart's already fast growing international business at a time when growth in its home market is flagging.

Wal-Mart, which owns a 50.9 percent stake in Seiyu, will pay $1.23 (140 yen) for each share of the Japanese supermarket chain operator it does not yet own, the company said in a statement.

Seiyu's board voted Monday to support Wal-Mart's 100 billion yen tender offer, according to the statement. The Japanese retailer will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange if the tender offer, set to run from Oct. 23 to Dec. 4., is successful, it said.

"Today's announcement is a reaffirmation of our commitment to Japan, the second largest economy in the world," Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Mike Duke said in the statement.

"The Japanese retail market is of major strategic importance to Wal-Mart, and our goal is to achieve long-term success and growth in Japan," Duke said.

The move could end questions about whether Wal-Mart would exit Japan after it sold similar loss-making operations in Germany and South Korea last year. Like Japan, those are wealthy developed countries.

Wal-Mart has profitable stores in Britain and Canada, but much of its international operation is now focused on expanding in developing countries like China, Brazil, India and several states in Central America.

"If Wal-Mart didn't think they could turn Japan around, they would have sold it," said Patricia Edwards, managing director and retail analyst at Wentworth, Hauser and Violich in Seattle, which manages about $12 billion in assets and holds about 35,700 Wal-Mart shares.

Edwards said taking full control will make it easier for Wal-Mart to run Seiyu and make faster changes without having to manage minority partners.

Trade in Seiyu shares on the TSE was suspended early Monday following news reports of the impending deal.

Since entering the Japan market in 2002, Wal-Mart has been gradually raising its stake in the Japanese retailer, which has some 400 stores nationwide.

Wal-Mart's stores in 13 countries outside the U.S. are growing faster than its home business. Wal-Mart does not release figures for individual countries. However, international sales overall rose 30 percent last year compared with 11 percent at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores to account for 22 percent of the company's total sales of $345 billion.

Growth has been helped by aggressive expansion in the past two years as Wal-Mart bought companies or expanded its stake in partners in China, Brazil and Central America. It signed a joint venture in India this year.

In Japan, Wal-Mart has stuck with the Seiyu brand, familiar to Japanese, instead of using the Wal-Mart name.

But Seiyu has struggled amid intense competition from smaller retail chains, as well as from major local companies that are introducing large Wal-Mart-style stores and price-cutting.

The Japanese retailer said in earnings results released Monday that it expects to post its sixth straight year of losses this year, with a 10.40 billion yen ($90.90 million) loss amid poor sales and ballooning restructuring costs.

Its net loss in the nine months to Sept. 30 narrowed to 11.42 billion yen ($99.81 million) from 59.55 billion yen a year earlier, due to large asset write-down costs it booked last year, Seiyu said in a statement.