Lotte Group acquires Buy the Way for $235.4 million
27 Jan 2010
South Korea's Lotte Group's convenience store unit Korea Seven Co. has agreed to take over the Buy the Way convenience store chain for 274 billion won ($235.4 million), the company said yesterday.
Korea Seven, the operator of third-largest 7- Eleven outlets, decided to take over the 100 per cent stake in the Buy the Way chain from Unitas Capital, the company said in a regulatory filing.
There were earlier reports that Japanese retailer Ministop and US private equity firm Carlyle Group are in the run for the South Korean retailer.
Unitas acquired Buy the Way store chain in July 2006 for about $200 million in a leveraged buyout.
After the takeover, Korea Seven will control about 27.6 per cent of the market for convenience stores, narrowing the gap with GS25's 29.1 per cent.
FamilyMart, Japan's third-largest convenience store, is the No.1 player in the South Korean convenience store market with 34.2 per cent share, and about 4,400 outlets.
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