LuLu Group, the UAE-based regional retail major, plans to open 12 more hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia by 2018, it has been revealed.

The announcement was made following the inauguration of a new branch in Jeddah, LuLu’s 125th hypermarket and seventh in Saudi Arabia, a report in Arab News said.

The new hypermarket, spread over an area of 200,000 sq ft, is located in Jeddah's Amir Fawaz district.

Yusuffali M.A, chairman of LuLu Group, said the company planned to launch four more hypermarkets this year, including one in Jeddah and one each in Hail and Hofuf. By 2018, the group will launch eight more hypermarkets in the kingdom, including in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, he was quoted as saying in the report.

Yusuffali said the group has invested SR1 billion ($266 million) in the kingdom and plans to further invest SR800 million in the next two years, taking its total investment to more than SR1.8 billion in the kingdom.