Hotel Lotte IPO clears hurdle

Hotel Lotte, the de facto holding company of Lotte Group’s Korean operations, passed a preliminary screening for its planned initial public offering (IPO), according to the Korea Exchange on Thursday.

The stability of the company’s corporate structure after a protracted family feud last year and various lawsuits against the company were major points of interest in the screening. Legal action by Shin Dong-joo, the older son of founder Shin Kyuk-ho and former vice chairman of Lotte Holdings, against Lotte Shopping and Hotel Lotte was also expected to influence the review. The older son was the loser in the feud with younger brother Shin Dong-bin for control of the group.

The screening council concluded they didn’t constitute a barrier to the listing.

Hotel Lotte will soon submit registration of securities to the exchange. Then an offering price for the IPO shares will be set based on demand forecasts and talks with foreign and domestic investors. Industry insiders estimate that actual listing of the company will be possible in late May or June.

Hotel Lotte applied for the screening on Dec. 21 and is trying to hasten its IPO.

The listing of Hotel Lotte was one of Chairman Shin Dong-bin’s pledges to clean up the complex cross holdings of companies in the conglomerate.

Listing of other Lotte Group affiliates such as Lotte Data Communication Company, Korea Seven and Lotteria may also take place, the Korea Exchange said in a statement.

BY PARK JIN-SEOK, KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]