SANTIAGO -(Dow Jones)- Chilean retailer SACI Falabella (FALABELLA.SN) plans to open 40 stores in the four Latin American countries in which it operates, the company's chief executive was quoted as saying in daily newspaper Diario Financiero on Friday.

Falabella, which is Chile's largest department store, has a $2.6 billion investment plan through 2014 to nearly double the number of its stores.

"For 2011 the plan we have includes the four countries and 40 stores, malls, power centers, strip centers," CEO Juan Benavides was quoted as saying.

Falabella currently has 217 stores and 13 shopping centers in Chile, Peru, Argentina and Colombia.

In Chile, the retailer wants to position its Tottus supermarket chain with 10% of the sector's market share, Benavides said.

Tottus now holds between a 6% and 6.5% share of Chile's supermarket sector.

To finance its expansion plans, Falabella aims to use a mix of cash flow and debt.

"Over two-thirds [of financing] will be our own resources and the rest will be external resources," Benavides was quoted as saying in daily newspaper El Mercurio.

The retailer also owns the Falabella department stores, Sodimac home improvement stores and its bank, Banco Falabella.

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