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Lotte Card Co. and Lotte Non-Life Insurance Co. will go under new owners as planned as Korean authorities are expected to give a go-ahead to their divorce from the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate early next month before the deadline for the holding entity to get rid of its financial units.

According to investment banking sources on Tuesday, the Financial Services Commission is expected to endorse MBK Partners-Woori Bank consortium and JKL Partners as the new respective owners of Lotte Card and Lotte Non-Life Insurance in a meeting on Oct. 2.

The acquisitions will be cleared as authorities found no problems during their month-long review.

Lotte Group shifted to a holding structure in October 2017, falling under the requirement to dispossess financial units within two years.

Lotte Corp., the holding entity, would face a fine of at least 200 billion won ($168.3 million) if it cannot shed its stakes worth 2 trillion won in the two financial companies by Oct. 11.


In May, MBK Partners and Woori Bank agreed to buy a 60 percent and 20 percent stake each in Lotte Card, shrinking Lotte’s holdings to 13.95 percent. Lotte also struck a deal to hand over its 53.49 percent stake in Lotte Non-Life Insurance to JKL Partners, cutting down its ownership in the insurer to 5 percent.

The sale process hit a few snags along the way, with Lotte Card facing a sudden change in its preferred bidder from Hahn & Co. to MBK, causing the company to push back its initial deadline.

Lotte also must divest a 25.64 percent stake in Lotte Capital Co. worth 1 trillion won by Oct. 11 to comply with local rules. It is reportedly considering handing over the stake to Japan-based Lotte Holdings if no buyers come up by then.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]