Lotte chief scrambling to get back on track

By Park Jae-hyuk

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin will return to his office at Lotte World Tower in Seoul Monday to normalize the management of the group which has suffered a series of setbacks during his eight-month absence. Shin was released from prison Friday after being given a suspended sentence for a conviction on bribery charges.

According to the nation's fifth-largest conglomerate Sunday, the chairman will have a meeting with Vice Chairman Hwang Kag-gyu and the heads of Lotte's business units, after receiving briefings from them as soon as he arrives at his office.

Shin had dinner with the executives Friday as well, to show his appreciation for them.

Industry officials expect Lotte will speed up resuming its postponed investments here and outside of Korea.

After the release of the chairman, Lotte said in a statement that “While taking care of our projects that did not go well, we will become a company that works to contribute to the country's economy and take societal responsibility.”

Shin himself also said, “I will work hard,” on the day he was released from prison.

Although Hwang and the heads of the group's business units have participated in an emergency management council since the chairman's arrest in February, they have been unable to make any important decisions except for the sale of Lotte Mart stores in China.

The chairman is expected to put the priority in dealing with Lotte Chemical's 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) plan to build a giant petrochemical complex in Indonesia, which had been suspended due to his imprisonment.

The construction of the integrated petrochemical facility will allow the group to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian market and is in line with the Moon Jae-in administration's so-called New Southern Policy that seeks to improve Korea's diplomatic and economic ties with Southeast Asian countries.

Lotte will likely make its decisions on major M&A deals worth 11 trillion won as well. The deals include those with a Vietnamese confectionary firm, an Indonesian retailer, an American hotel chain and a European chemical company.

Industry officials say the conglomerate will take measures to restore trust in the conglomerate.

In 2016, Shin announced a reform plan after the end of the prosecutors' investigation into the owner family's alleged corruption.

Back then, he promised to hire 70,000 additional employees from 2017 to 2022 and invest 40 trillion won during the period. He also vowed to launch a holding company and list Hotel Lotte on the stock market.

Lotte said the chairman will soon go on a business trip to Japan to meet executives of Japan-based Lotte Holdings, the de-facto holding firm of the Korean-Japanese conglomerate.

Shin has maintained his position as a director of Lotte Holdings, although he resigned as the representative director. He is expected to retake the post, considering that Lotte Holdings shareholders in June rejected stripping Shin of the Lotte chairmanship during a shareholders' meeting in Tokyo.