As rumors continue to swirl a representative from Big C Vietnam told VET on March 16 that “We have no official information that Aeon plans to buy Big C Vietnam.”

Some reports claimed that the purchase may have been coming this week.

The representative said he was amazed by such accounts as there has been no official word from the parent company of Big C Vietnam.

Japan’s Aeon Co. is among several parties to submit first-round bids for the chain, Bloomberg reported. “Some offers valued the business at more than $800 million,” it wrote. There was no mention of whether Aeon led the way in the first-round bid.

Aeon, Masan, the Lotte Group, the Central Group, and Berli Jucker are all competing to buy Big C Vietnam and the tussle continues.

Big C Vietnam is currently valued from $800 million to $1 billion.

It’s believed that French retailer Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, the owner of Big C Vietnam, will shortly call for second-round bids.