Dec 17 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group ( BABA ) said on

Tuesday that it will sell its department store unit Intime to a

consortium comprising of textiles firm Youngor Fashion

and some of Intime's management for 7.4 billion yuan

($1.02 billion).

The deal comes as Alibaba ( BABA ) looks to shift focus from its

dominance in China's retail sector to its core e-commerce and

cloud operations.

Alibaba ( BABA ), which owns a 99% stake in Intime, expects to record

a loss of about 9.3 billion yuan on its initial investment in

Intime, it said.

The sale is part of the tech giant's restructuring efforts,

with Intime facing challenges due to a significant decline in

Chinese consumer spending post-Covid-19.

Intime was valued at around $4 billion in 2017 when Alibaba ( BABA )

acquired the chain, which owns more than 100 stores in China.

Alibaba ( BABA ), under former boss Daniel Zhang, expanded its

presence in the retail sector by taking over several

brick-and-mortar chains, including electronics retailer Suning

and hypermarket operator Sun Art Retail ( SURRF ).

($1 = 7.2841 Chinese yuan renminbi)