Korea's Lotte buys GS department and discount stores

South Korea's Lotte Shopping Group will acquire GS Retail's department and discount store units for W1.3 trillion $1.12 billion.

Lotte is taking over three GS Square department stores and 14 GS Mart hypermarkets or discount stores, increasing its portfolio of department stores in Korea to 33 and its discount stores to 83. The South Korean retail chain dominates the department store segment in Korea, but ranks third in the hypermarket segment after Shinsegae's E-Mart chain and Tesco's Home Plus network. With this acquisition, Lotte will consolidate its position in the hypermarket segment enough to both put a significant gap between itself and the number four player, and to become a significant runner-up to...