Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Lotte ups stake in Myanmar
By Park Ji-won
Lotte Group said Wednesday that its beverage unit Lotte Chilsung has set up a joint venture with a firm in Myanmar to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian country.
The firm received approval from Myanmar Investment Council for the creation of the joint firm, named Lotte-MGS Beverage, on Jan. 15.
Lotte owns 70 percent of the firm, while Myanmar’s MGS Beverages owns the rest. Two firms’ investment is worth $81 million.
“Myanmar has great potential and will be a strategic location in Southeast Asia. I hope Lotte Chilsung will lead the Myanmar beverage market using its 64 years of beverage business knowhow,” Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin said in a statement.
“Myanmar’s new government has loosened regulations on investment from overseas,” said an official at Lotte Chilsung when explaining the background of the Myanmar expansion.
“We expect business synergy with the local firm by providing our beverage knowhow, as well as sharing its local business channels and factory,” the official added.
The official said Lotte also brings products of its partner PepsiCo, a multinational beverage and food company headquartered in New York, with them into the market.
Lotte now has three business portfolios in Myanmar including the beverage business; Lotteria, a hamburger franchise since April 2013; and Lotte Hotel’s investment in a hotel business in Yangon.
The group has announced it plans to open 30 Lotterias by 2016 in Myanmar, as well as run the hotel after finishing construction now underway.
MGS Beverages is one of largest beverage firms in the nation and has been doing business since 1990, running 21 warehouses all over Myanmar and a fleet of 34 transport trucks and 110 delivery vans, according to official data from the MGS Group.