Lotte Shopping Invests 30 Billion KRW to Acquire Stake in Junggonara

Partnering with Eugene Asset Management to Participate as Strategic and Financial Investor

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Lotte Shopping is participating in the acquisition of 'Junggonara,' the No.1 online secondhand trading platform in Korea.

On the 23rd, Lotte Shopping announced that it will participate as a financial investor in the process of Eugene Asset Management acquiring 93.9% of Junggonara's shares.

A company official explained, "Out of the total acquisition transaction amount of 100 billion to 110 billion KRW, Lotte Shopping will invest about 30 billion KRW," adding, "We are participating as a strategic and financial investor, seeing the future profitability of the rapidly growing secondhand goods market."

According to this investment, the stake in Junggonara that Lotte Shopping will hold is expected to be around 23%, proportional to the investment amount.

The domestic secondhand trading market was about 20 trillion KRW in scale last year, and Junggonara surpassed 5 trillion KRW in sales last year, marking the largest scale ever.

This investment is interpreted as a strategy for Lotte to grow its online business in response to the rapidly changing e-commerce market. Lotte Shopping also submitted a letter of intent to acquire eBay Korea, whose preliminary bidding closed on the 16th.

Kang Hee-tae, CEO of Lotte Shopping, said at the shareholders' meeting held that morning, "We apologize for not achieving the expected results due to many trial and errors in e-commerce," adding, "We have sufficient interest in acquiring eBay Korea and will strengthen group capabilities by bringing in external experts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.