Lotte Shopping Said to Agree to Buy Control of China’s Times

Lotte Shopping Said to Agree to Buy Control of China’s Times

By Cathy Chan

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Lotte Shopping Co., South Korea’s biggest department store owner, agreed to buy control of Times Ltd. in a deal that values the Chinese supermarket operator at about $625 million, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Seoul-based Lotte Shopping will purchase a 72.3 percent stake in Times from Chairman Kenneth Fang for about HK$5.50 per share, 19 percent above Times’s latest traded price, and will make an offer for the rest of the company, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private.

Lotte Shopping beat out China’s Wumart Stores Inc. to clinch the biggest acquisition in the country by a Korean company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Lotte Shopping, which operates a department store in Beijing, will add 65 outlets in the world’s fastest-growing major economy with the purchase.

Times may announce the deal as early as today, the people said. A call to the company’s Hong Kong office outside of regular business hours went unanswered.

“We are currently in the final stage of talks with a positive stance, but we have no information on the size or the value of the stake,” said Lee Sun Dae, a spokesman for Lotte in Seoul.

Wumart, Beijing’s biggest supermarket chain, said Sept. 24 it has held talks with Times. Shares in Times were suspended on Oct. 12 in Hong Kong after rising to a two-year high, taking its market value to $523 million.

Lotte Shopping said Oct. 16 in a regulatory filing that it plans to invest an additional 732.7 billion won ($622 million) in its Hong Kong unit, which will use the proceeds to expand in China and Hong Kong.

Nomura Holdings Inc. is advising Lotte Shopping and HSBC Holdings Plc represents Times. Annie Cheng, a spokeswoman at HSBC, declined to comment. Nomura spokesman Matthew Russell didn’t return an e-mail seeking comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at kchan14@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 18, 2009 12:00 EDT