Lotte Shopping Co, South Korea’s biggest department store owner, has agreed to buy control of Times Ltd (時代) in a deal that values the Chinese supermarket operator at about US$625 million, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Seoul-based Lotte Shopping will purchase a 72.3 percent stake in Times from chairman Kenneth Fang (方鏗) for about HK$5.50 (US$0.71) per share, 19 percent above Times’ latest traded price, and will make an offer for the rest of the company, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private.
Lotte Shopping beat China’s Wumart Stores Inc (物美商業集團) to clinch the biggest acquisition in the country by a South Korean company, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Lotte Shopping, which operates a department store in Beijing, will add 65 outlets in the world’s fastest-growing major economy with the purchase.
“Given the slower growth in the domestic retail industry, mergers and acquisitions in China will boost the market’s expectation for Lotte Shopping’s long-term growth,” CG Koo, an analyst at Samsung Securities Co, said in a note to clients yesterday.
Lotte Shopping fell 0.8 percent to 303,500 won (US$260) at 12:16pm on the Korea Exchange, while the mainboard Kospi lost 0.6 percent. The stock has gained 45 percent this year.
“We are currently in the final stage of talks with a positive stance, but we have no information on the size or the value of the stake,” said Lee Sun-dae, a spokesman for Lotte in Seoul.
Wumart, Beijing’s biggest supermarket chain, said on Sept. 24 it had held talks with Times.
Trading of Times shares were suspended on Oct. 12 in Hong Kong after rising to a two-year high, taking its market value to US$523 million.
Lotte Shopping said on Friday in a regulatory filing that it planned to invest an additional 732.7 billion won in its Hong Kong unit, which will use the proceeds to expand in China and Hong Kong.
Parent Lotte Group is expanding in China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Russia, seeking to tap rising affluence in developing markets. Lotte Shopping opened its first overseas department store in Moscow in 2007 before its Beijing outlet.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS