Why is Lotte Card selling LOCA Mobility?
By Anna J. Park
Macquarie Asset Management was revealed to have been among the few potential buyers that participated in the main bid to acquire LOCA Mobility, a subsidiary of Lotte Card. LOCA Mobility operates various traffic solution services, including pre-paid cards, city bus management systems (BMS) and bus information systems (BIS).
According to investment banking industry sources Wednesday, MBK Partners and JPMorgan, the sales manager of the deal, held the main bid earlier this week to sell LOCA Mobility. A few bidders participated, suggesting a price as high as 400 billion won ($302 million) to acquire a 100 percent stake in LOCA Mobility.
Macquarie is said to have joined the bid, considering LOCA Mobility's stable profitability and further growth potential. The mobility system company accounts for a 37 percent share of the local pre-paid traffic card market, second only to Tmoney, which controls a 60 percent share. The company's cumulative revenues during the first three quarters of this year stood at 147.3 billion won, while net profit reached 14.7 billion won.
Kakao Pay is also known to have asked the seller to provide an additional opportunity to join the bid, as it could not register for the main bid due to a lack of certain documents.
SOCAR, a car-sharing unicorn company, was previously expected to take part, but did not show up.
Market watchers say MBK Partners decided separately to sell LOCA Mobility to reduce the price of Lotte Card, the corporate value of which is estimated at well over 2 trillion won.
After taking over the card company in 2019, the Asia-focused private equity firm has been attempting to resell Lotte Card since early this year, as the card firm has been showing a significant improvement in its earnings recently. However, they have been unable to find a proper buyer. Local financial groups, which are estimated to be potential buyers of Lotte Card, became more reserved in their acquisition plans due to soaring interest rates.
 |
| Lotte Card headquarters in central Seoul / Courtesy of Lotte Card |
Macquarie Asset Management was revealed to have been among the few potential buyers that participated in the main bid to acquire LOCA Mobility, a subsidiary of Lotte Card. LOCA Mobility operates various traffic solution services, including pre-paid cards, city bus management systems (BMS) and bus information systems (BIS).
According to investment banking industry sources Wednesday, MBK Partners and JPMorgan, the sales manager of the deal, held the main bid earlier this week to sell LOCA Mobility. A few bidders participated, suggesting a price as high as 400 billion won ($302 million) to acquire a 100 percent stake in LOCA Mobility.
Macquarie is said to have joined the bid, considering LOCA Mobility's stable profitability and further growth potential. The mobility system company accounts for a 37 percent share of the local pre-paid traffic card market, second only to Tmoney, which controls a 60 percent share. The company's cumulative revenues during the first three quarters of this year stood at 147.3 billion won, while net profit reached 14.7 billion won.
Kakao Pay is also known to have asked the seller to provide an additional opportunity to join the bid, as it could not register for the main bid due to a lack of certain documents.
SOCAR, a car-sharing unicorn company, was previously expected to take part, but did not show up.
Market watchers say MBK Partners decided separately to sell LOCA Mobility to reduce the price of Lotte Card, the corporate value of which is estimated at well over 2 trillion won.
After taking over the card company in 2019, the Asia-focused private equity firm has been attempting to resell Lotte Card since early this year, as the card firm has been showing a significant improvement in its earnings recently. However, they have been unable to find a proper buyer. Local financial groups, which are estimated to be potential buyers of Lotte Card, became more reserved in their acquisition plans due to soaring interest rates.
![[INTERVIEW] Choi Min-sik, Lee Dong-hwi on creating Korean-style noir with 'Big Bet'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/8b795a8f6b42492db4e8fdc47e9abd8d.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
