Tesco has completed the sale of its loss-making US business Fresh & Easy to Ron Burkle’s investment firm Yucaipa.

Yucaipa acquired Fresh & Easy after receiving court approval for the deal to take 150 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores.

Tesco has financed the deal with a $120m (£74m) loan to offload the US business which chief executive Philip Clarke called time on earlier this year.

Yucaipa is reportedly projecting the relaunched Fresh & Easy will “likely achieve positive EBITDA of tens of millions of dollars” but has not given a time period for the profit target.

Tesco today said: “Following the announcement of September 10, 2013 that Tesco had agreed the sale of the substantive part of Fresh & Easy’s operating business to YFE Holdings Inc, an affiliate of Yucaipa Companies LLC, Tesco is today confirming the completion of the transaction.”