Lotte Rental Co., South Korea’s No. 1 car rental business with an estimated value of 1.5 trillion won ($1.35 billion), is readying to go public on the main Kospi bourse.

According to investment banking sources on Wednesday, Lotte Rental has picked Korea Investment & Securities and NH Investment & Securities as the lead underwriters for its initial public offering (IPO) this year.

It invited securities firms to bid to underwrite the offering process three months earlier and five were shortlisted on Jan. 26.

The company under the country’s fifth largest conglomerate Lotte Group reported an operating profit of 129.4 billion won from January to September last year, up 31.2 percent from a year-ago period. Sales also gained 11.5 percent on year to total 1.73 trillion won in the period.

Lotte Rental currently commands the largest 22.9 percent share in the Korean car rental market. Considering its market position and solid earnings, its corporate value is estimated to reach 1.5 trillion won, market analysts say.

The former unit of KT went under Lotte Group in 2015. Lotte Hotel owns 42.04 percent in the rental company which also services auto leasing and financing. Its IPO will be a kind of curtain-raiser for a Lotte Hotel IPO delayed since 2017.

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