Tesco reshaping continues with Turkey and Giraffe sales

* Agrees sale of Kipa business in Turkey to Migros

* To sell Giraffe restaurant chain in UK to Boparan (Adds detail, analyst comment)

LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) has agreed the sale of its Turkish business and Giraffe restaurant chain in the United Kingdom as the country's biggest retailer continues its reshaping under Chief Executive Dave Lewis.

Lewis joined Tesco in 2014 when the firm was in crisis, its profits battered by market share losses at home to discounters Aldi and Lidl. A damaging accounting scandal was then uncovered shortly after his appointment.

He is now focusing on reviving Tesco's main grocery business in Britain and also wants to cut debt to rid the group of its junk credit rating.

Tesco on Friday confirmed the proposed sale of its 95.5 percent controlling stake in the Kipa business in Turkey to Migros, the country's largest supermarket chain.

The sale, which is subject to local regulatory approvals, will provide cash proceeds of 30 million pounds ($43.3 million) and reduce net debt by 110 million pounds.

"The sale of Kipa reflects the particular strategic challenge we have faced in Turkey as a small regional player in a highly competitive market," said Lewis.

"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) removes the need for the sustained investment required to enable the business to compete independently."

Last year, Lewis sold Tesco's South Korean arm for $6.1 billion, which means the firm now only has overseas businesses in Thailand and Malaysia, central Europe and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) .

Under the previous management Tesco made costly exits from Japan and the United States, and reduced its exposure to China.

"Although this was largely expected and is very small (Kipa made up less than 1 percent of group sales in 2015-16) it demonstrates the willingness and ability of management to exit non-core operations," said UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) retail analyst Ben Gorman.

Tesco also said it planned to sell the Giraffe restaurant chain to Boparan Restaurants Holdings. The sale includes 54 standalone restaurants, of which 12 are franchise sites, and three restaurants within Tesco stores. No price was disclosed.

Tesco bought Giraffe for 49 million pounds in 2013, when Philip Clarke was CEO and wanted to diversify its shopper appeal. Clarke (Toronto: CKI.TO - news) was sacked before Lewis took over.

"While casual dining remains an important part of the shopping trip for many of our customers, we will continue to meet these needs through our Tesco Cafes and other providers," said Lewis.

In April, Tesco reported its first rise in underlying operating profit in four years and its first quarter of underlying UK sales growth for more than three years.

Though Tesco shares are up 5 percent so far in 2016, they are down 25 percent from a year ago.

They were down 0.6 percent at 156.8 pence at 0713 GMT, valuing the business at about 13 billion pounds.

($1 = 0.6927 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton and David Clarke)