How Lotte Shopping snagged Hi-Mart

MBK was the preferred bidder, but after the stock price dipped and talks dragged on, Lotte Shopping swooped in as the strategic acquirer of Hi-Mart, Korea's largest electronics retailer.

<div style="text-align: left;"> Hi-Mart sellers wanted to go with a private equity firm rather than "penny-pinching” Lotte </div>

By Lara Wozniak

July 09, 2012

After a series of dramatic twists and turns that could rival a daytime soap opera, South Korea’s Lotte Shopping is set to buy a 65.25% controlling stake in local electronics discount retailer Hi-Mart for W1.25 trillion $1.1 billion, edging out private-equity fund MBK Partners, which apparently walked away from the table.

The consortium of sellers includes Eugene Corporation, the company’s former chairman Sun Jong-koo, HQ Private Equity Fund II and NH Halloween PEF.

A source close to the deal said that each party negotiated a different price. That would make sense, given the varying prices they paid to buy the company.

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