Cleaning up structure, Lotte picks IPO advisers

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin tours the Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation on Friday. Provided by the company

Lotte Group took further steps towards cleaning up its convoluted ownership structure on Friday by picking financial advisors to prepare for an IPO of Hotel Lotte, a de facto holding company of Lotte’s Korean operations.

Lead advisors include Merrill Lynch International & Co, Citigroup and local brokerage KDB Daewoo Securities.

The group said Goldman Sachs, Nomura Financial Investment, Korea Investment & Securities and Mirae Asset Securities would also provide assistance.

Lotte decided to list Hotel Lotte on Korea’s stock market after a family feud over control of the Group exposed its murky corporate structure.

Hotel Lotte is an unlisted hospitality operator at the top of the cross-shareholdings of Lotte’s Korea affiliates and holds a sizable amount of shares in Lotte Aluminum, Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Shopping and Lotte Construction & Engineering. Despite the stakes it holds, reliable information about the company is hard to come by since it is not listed.

Meanwhile, Chairman Shin Dong-bin continued his efforts to restore order within the group after the highly publicized family battle.

He visited Busan on Friday to visit the group’s R&D center, the Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation.

He also visited the Sajik Baseball Stadium, the home stadium of the Lotte Giants.

This is Shin’s first visit after Shin Dong-in, the cousin of the chairman who acted as the head of the team, left last month.

The cousin said that he was stepping down as the CEO of Lotte’s baseball team, to wipe out his “disgrace” in the wake of the family battle.

The chairman will be responsible for overseeing the baseball team from now on, the group said.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]