Lotte Card Listed for Sale After 2 Years, MBK Partners Resumes Divestment Efforts

Lotte Card has been put up for sale in the merger and acquisition (M&A) market again after two years.

An MBK Partners official stated on the 2nd, "We have selected UBS, the largest Swiss investment bank (IB), as the lead manager for the sale of Lotte Card and are pushing forward with the sale," adding, "However, specific plans such as the sale price and potential buyers have not been decided yet."

This is the second time Lotte Card has sought a new owner. MBK Partners, which acquired Lotte Card in 2019, attempted its first sale in 2022, three years later, but faced difficulties due to the high price. At that time, MBK Partners was reportedly valuing Lotte Card at around 3 trillion won.

Previously, Lotte Card was sold in 2019 during Lotte Group's transition to a holding company system, in accordance with the financial-industrial separation policy. MBK Partners formed a consortium with Woori Bank and acquired 79.83% of Lotte Card's shares for approximately 1.75 trillion won. MBK Partners holds 44,717,000 shares (59.8% stake) of Lotte Card through its special purpose company (SPC) subsidiary, Korea Retail Card Holdings. Woori Bank and Lotte Shopping each hold 20% of Lotte Card's shares.

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