Chile retailer Falabella guts '09 investment plans

SANTIAGO Jan 15 (Reuters) - Chile's Falabella, one of Latin America's top diversified retailers, has slashed its investment plan for 2009 by two-thirds to $305 million, according to a statement on its Web site on Thursday amid slumping demand.

The new investment outlook compares to a $914 million investment forecast in March 2008, Falabella said on its Web site.

Chilean retailers that expanded aggressively amid an economic boom in recent years are bracing for the impact of the global economic and financial crisis, and are suspending plans for growth.

Falabella, whose chains include department stores, malls, home improvement stores, supermarkets and consumer banks, said $257 million would go to its department stores and $48 million would go to its malls.

The company said it planned to invest $2.02 billion to open new stores and build new malls from 2009 through 2012.

That will translate into 22 new Falabella department stores, 55 new Sodimac home improvement stores and 49 new Tottus supermarkets by 2012.

In November, as global economic turbulence mounted, diversified Chilean retailer Cencosud CEN.SN said it would delay investing $300 million in projects planned through 2011 due to uncertainty generated by the international financial crisis. (Reporting by Monica Vargas and Antonio de la Jara; Editing by Brian Moss)