Lotte Group indicated it will shelve what may have been a US$4.5 billion initial public offering, the world’s biggest so far this year, for its hotel unit after widening investigations pushed the South Korean conglomerate deeper into crisis, Bloomberg reported.
It’s going to be “physically difficult” for Hotel Lotte Co. to meet next month’s deadline to complete the IPO in light of the extra steps it would need to take such as making additional disclosures, the parent group said in an e-mailed statement in Seoul. Lotte will cooperate with authorities in their investigation, it said.
It’s the latest blow to hit the conglomerate, which has 89 Korean units with more than 100 trillion won (US$85 billion) in assets. With the group still reeling from a feud that tore its founding family apart, Lotte sank into deeper turmoil last week as Korean prosecutors widened their probes into the business empire amid allegations of slush funds and embezzlement.
Lotte IPO ‘to be shelved’
