關注社會:韓國樂天百貨洽購中國時代零售

【英文原文】

LOTTE Shopping IN TALKS TO BUY CHINESE CHAIN

Lotte Shopping, South Korea's second-largest retailer, is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Times, the Chinese supermarket operator, to expand its presence in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Lotte's move will rival a $600m bid from Chinese retailer Wumart Stores for the Chinese supermarket chain, and comes after Times invited a number of potential bidders to review the company's operations.

“We are reviewing opportunities to expand in China through mergers and acquisitions and buying Times could be one of the options,” said a Lotte spokesman.

He declined to give any details, adding that no decision has been made yet.

【中文譯文】

韓國第二大零售商樂天百貨公司(Lotte Shopping)正進行談判，擬收購中國超市運營商時代零售集團(Times)的控股權，以此拓展其中國業務。中國是全球增長最快的主要經濟體。

樂天百貨將與出價6億美元的中國零售商物美商業集團(Wumart Stores)爭奪時代零售，時代零售已邀請多家潛在競購者評估其業務。

“我們正評估通過併購在中國擴張的機會，收購時代零售將可能是選擇之一，”樂天百貨的一位發言人表示。

他拒絕透露任何細節，並補充稱，目前尚未作出任何決定。

【英文原文】

But media reports said Lotte was considering buying a 72.3 per cent stake in the Chinese retailer from Kenneth Fang, chairman, for more than Won600bn ($513m).

The Hong Kong tycoon reportedly began to consider selling the stake in April and hired HSBC Holdings to advise on the sale.

The deal could be the biggest acquisition in China by a Korean company, according to Bloomberg.

Lotte is the third-largest supermarket chain in South Korea, with 55 outlets or a 15 per cent domestic market share, trailing Shinsegae's E-mart and Tesco's Home-Plus.

The retailer has been trying hard to expand its footprints in emerging markets such as China, Russia and south-east Asia.

“Buying Times will help Lotte increase scale in China, which is critical in such a competitive market. Building a franchise takes a long time and it is also difficult [for Lotte to do] on its own,” said Han Kook-hee, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

【中文譯文】

但有媒體報道稱，樂天百貨正考慮出資逾6000億韓元（合5.13億美元），從時代零售主席方鏗(Kenneth Fang)手中收購該公司72.3%的股份。

據報道，香港大亨方鏗4月份就開始考慮售股，並已聘請匯豐控股(HSBC Holdings)擔任售股交易顧問。

據彭博社(Bloomberg)報道,此次交易將可能成爲韓國企業在中國最大一宗收購案。

樂天是韓國第三大超市連鎖店運營商，擁有55家門店，佔據韓國國內市場15%的份額，僅次於新世界百貨(Shinsegae)旗下的易買得(E-Mart)和特易購(Tesco)旗下的Home-plus。

這家零售商一直努力在中國、俄羅斯和東南亞等新興市場進行擴張。

“購買時代零售將有助於樂天百貨擴大在華業務規模。在中國這樣一個競爭激烈的市場，規模至關重要。建設自己的門店需要很長時間，而且(樂天)也很難獨立去做，”未來資產證券(Mirae Asset Securities)分析師Han Kook-hee表示。