Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
Lotte speeds up unloading assets amid liquidity crisis rumors
Lotte World Tower in Seoul is shrouded in fog in this October 2023 photo. Newsis
By Park Jae-hyuk
Conglomerate considers selling car rental business, Busan department store
Lotte’s car rental business and one of its four Busan department stores have been mentioned as the next assets that the conglomerate will unload, amid its all-out efforts to reassure investors about recent rumors that it would declare a moratorium next month due to a liquidity crisis.
The nation’s sixth-largest business group recently confirmed ongoing talks about the sales of Lotte Rental and Lotte Department Store Centum City.
“Our largest shareholder was asked to sell its stake in Lotte Rental, but nothing has been decided yet,” Lotte Rental said in its regulatory filing Friday.
Such an ambiguous stance led investors to believe that Lotte Rental will be put up for sale soon.
Given that Lotte Rental is Korea’s leading car rental company posting around 300 billion won ($214 million) in annual operating profit, speculation is also growing that Lotte may sell its other lucrative subsidiaries, such as Lotte Chilsung Beverage, to improve its financial health.
On Friday, Lotte Shopping also said that it selected Cushman & Wakefield as the adviser for the sale of its department store in Busan, which has suffered an earnings decline since 2009 when Shinsegae Centum City opened nearby as the world’s largest department store.
“We are considering selling the store and various other measures,” a Lotte Shopping official said.
Last month, Lotte Chemical decided to liquidate its synthetic rubber-producing company in Malaysia, as part of its “asset light” strategy. The chemical firm is set to sell its additional shares in foreign subsidiaries to secure up to 1.4 trillion won.
Although Lotte emphasized that it held real estate worth 56 trillion won and disposable deposits worth 15.4 trillion won as of September, the business group is currently in emergency mode, due to its unprofitable investments and the global petrochemical industry downturn, which made it difficult to support the conglomerate’s debt-ridden construction unit, Lotte E&C.
Earlier this year, Lotte downsized its subsidiaries running duty free shops, convenience stores and e-commerce platforms.
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and Lotte Chemical’s executives agreed earlier this month to return part of their wages as the chemical firm suffered an operating loss for the fourth straight quarter.
Despite these efforts, Lotte Chemical is still tasked with winning over its creditors, as some bonds it issued failed to meet the interest coverage ratio clause, requiring it to schedule a bondholders meeting to discuss deleting the clause.
On top of the meeting with creditors, Lotte will meet institutional investors on Tuesday, as its own press release and reports published by securities analysts could not dispel worries.
Lotte also indicated its intention to sue rumormongers who wrote online this month that the group would halve the number of its employees and eventually disband, just as Daewoo became defunct after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.