The report, which cited financial sector sources, claimed that the unlisted South Korean conglomerate decided to raise KRW 100bn out of its total offer of KRW 275bn and commenced a process to select a financial advisor for the financing. The selection is expected to be revealed this week.

As reported, Lotte had signed on stock purchase agreement with a Hong Kong-based Unitas Capital to acquire Buy The Way in 26 January.

(Source: Money Today)

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Today’s JoongAng Daily reports - Lotte signs deal to buy Buy The Way

Korea’s retail conglomerate Lotte Group, which runs the local version of the 7-Eleven chain, said yesterday that it will purchase Buy the Way, a rival convenience store chain, from the U.S.-based private equity fund Unitas Capital for 274 billion won ($239 million).

The deal will give Lotte 26 percent of the local convenience store industry with 2,300 7-Eleven and 1,231 Buy the Way branches. Family Mart is the current No.1 player with 33.3 percent of the market. GS25 is second at 28.6 percent.

For more information on the sale see the previous post - Lotte offers ‘reasonable’ price for Buy The Way.

(Source: JoongAng Daily)

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The news report cited Lotte CEO Lee In-won as saying that his company have sent a proposal to Unitas Capital, offering a ‘reasonable’ price for Buy The Way.

The report added that Family Mart, another convenience store chain that had been linked to the sale, consider the estimated KRW 250 billion (US$ 223 million) price tag too high, preferring to continue working on their own expansion strategy.

Unitas Capital acquired Buy the Way from Orion Group back in 2006 for US$200 million.

The Reuters article ‘Ministop, Lotte, Carlyle bidding for Buy The Way‘ reported last week, that -

Along with Lotte Group, Japanese retailer Ministop and U.S. PE firm Carlyle Group will also make final bids for Buy The Way, as they try and capititalize on South Korea’s rapidly growing convenience store market, which expanded 17 percent to KRW 6.5 trillion in 2008.

If Lotte Group, who currently run two thousand 7-Eleven stores under a licence agreement, gains Buy The Way’s 1,400 stores they would go along way to closing the gap with market leader Family Mart.

(Sources: Reuters, Money Today)

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From an interview with Interpark CEO Sang-Gyu Lee (pictured), the Seoul Economic Daily reported today, that his company is interested in acquiring the Korean convenience store chain – Buy The Way.

The article stated that Interpark has sent a letter of intent to Unitas Capital, the Hong Kong based buy-out fund which acquired Buy The Way in 2006 for USD 200m.

Interpark is thought to have sufficient internal cash for the acquisition after selling their subsidiary, Gmarket, to Ebay for KRW 440bn earlier this year.

For the full story click here (Korean).

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