Homeplus, the nation’s No. 2 discount chain store, said Tuesday that its financial planning and reporting director Christopher Kim has joined Tesco China as a finance executive.

Since entering Homeplus in 2002, Kim has served in several positions, managing the company’s performance and developing its mid- and long-term business plans.

Kim, who will be serving the job of finance director, is the first Korean executive officer to work at the Chinese operation of the U.K. retail giant, the company said.

Homeplus, established in 1999, is a joint venture between Samsung Group and Tesco. Currently, Tesco holds almost 95 percent of company shares.

Nurturing global leaders has been one of the goals for Homeplus CEO Lee Seung-han.

After working in Korea under his leadership, some Tesco officials became CEOs of regional branches such as in China, Thailand and Poland.

Last year former Homeplus COO Do Sung-hwan became the first Korean to lead an overseas Tesco operation when he was named the CEO of Tesco Malaysia.

Tesco China, which operates 105 locations, logged 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in sales last year. Some 27,000 employees work there.

(jylee@heraldcorp.com)