Lee Seung-han, chief executive of Homeplus, Tesco Korea, has decided to retire from his post in May, Tesco plc said.

Lee will be staying on as a non-executive chairman of Homeplus Group.

“He will also be appointed to chairman and professor emeritus of the Tesco Leadership Academy; remain chairman of the e-Paran Foundation; and become a personal adviser to me,” Philip Clarke, CEO of the British retailer, said in a statement Tuesday evening.

Lee took the helm of what was then Samsung C&T’s retail division in 1997, set up a joint venture between Samsung and Tesco in 1999, and has led Homeplus for the past 16 years.

During Lee’s term, Homeplus grew from Korea’s 12th-largest retailer to second largest and Tesco’s largest business outside of the U.K., generating over 5 billion pounds ($7.7 billion) in revenue last year.

Do Sung-hwan, CEO of Tesco’s Malaysian business, will replace Lee as the new CEO of Homeplus.

(sophie@heraldcorp.com)