[Youth Daily]As a major issue in the retail industry last week, IMM Private Equity (IMM PE), a private equity fund (PEF) manager, joined hands with Lotte Shopping to acquire Hanssem. The news that it was announced drew attention.
In addition, the news that Kwangdong Pharmaceutical has secured the rights to sell Jeju Samdasoo, the No. 1 brand of bottled water in Korea, and the news that Lotte GFR has been confirmed as a new developer of Italian sports brand Kappa were also reported.
◆ Lotte Shopping, IMM PE and Hanssem jointly acquired
Lotte Shopping jointly acquired Hanssem, the No. 1 interior and furniture company in Korea, with a private equity fund. Lotte, which has been actively expressing its will to acquire Hanssem, expects synergy at the group level.
According to the distribution and investment banking (IB) industry on the 10th, IMM Private Equity (IMM PE), a private equity fund manager, selected Lotte Shopping as a strategic investor (SI) to participate in the acquisition of Hanssem’s management stake.
Lotte Shopping submitted a pledge of investment the day before to invest 299.5 billion won in a management participation type private equity fund (PEF) that IMM PE plans to establish for the acquisition of Hanssem. Lotte, which is known to have secured preferential purchase rights for Hanssem management rights, is expected to secure management rights for Hanssem in the future.
IMM PE, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Hanssem, to take over the stake and management rights of 7 people with special relations with Honorary Chairman Chang-Gul Cho (15.45% stake as of June), is looking for a strategic investor (SI). The value of the stake in the sale is estimated at 1.5 trillion won. With this investment, Lotte Shopping has secured a 6% stake in Hanssem. For the time being, Lotte Shopping is said to focus on expanding synergies through strategic alliances rather than Hanssem management.
◆ Hanssem’s second-largest shareholder sale ‘stopped’… Applied for injunction to court
IMM Private Equity (IMM PE), a private equity fund (PEF) manager, has joined hands with Lotte Shopping to acquire Hanssem, and an American hedge fund, the second largest shareholder of Hanssem, has filed an injunction requesting that it be stopped.
According to the electronic disclosure system of the Financial Supervisory Service on the 10th, Hanssem announced that Teton Capital Partners, the second largest shareholder of Hanssem, had filed an injunction against the Ansan Branch of the Suwon District Act against five executive directors, including honorary chairman Cho Chang-geol.
Teton Capital Partners requested that Teton Capital Partners be barred from any act of cooperating with business due diligence to set the terms and conditions of sale and the provision of materials such as licenses, assets, intellectual property rights, key contracts, etc.
◆ Market Kurly acquires PG’s Paybot… “Advanced payment and settlement service”
Curly, the operator of the shopping app ‘Market Kurly’, acquired Paybot, an electronic payment agency (PG) company, advanced payment and settlement services, and launched an open market service in the first half of next year.
Curly plans to build its own payment system by upgrading its technological capabilities, starting with the acquisition of Paybot. After the establishment and upgrading of its own system is completed, Curly will expand its service area in the first half of next year to an open market that connects consumers and sellers in addition to the existing business model based on direct purchase.
If a self-assessment system is established, we respond more quickly to customers’ order-related requests. Settlement with partners has also been changed to be more convenient. Currently, Curly operates about 30,000 products from about 2,000 partners through direct purchase.
Of these, 96% are small and medium-sized businesses, and there is a demand for a more convenient and quick settlement system.
Curly expects that once the upgrade of the settlement service is completed, it will be able to contribute to the business stability of its partners, which are small and medium-sized businesses, as the settlement convenience increases. In addition, Curly plans to provide a simple payment system based on its own payment ‘Curly Pay (tentative name)’ through the acquisition of a company with a PG license.
◆ Lotte GFR secures exclusive domestic business right for 伊Kappa
Lotte GFR is confirmed as the new developer of Kappa. Lotte GFR will secure exclusive domestic business rights from Kappa Italia’s headquarters, BasicNet, until 2028.
It is preparing for a relaunch in February 2022 with a new concept of a lifestyle sports brand for the MZ (millennial + Z) generation, which is completely different from the Kappa that has been developed in Korea.
The new Kappa plans to completely reorganize the product composition, which was previously focused on performance, by strengthening the Authentic line consisting of lifestyle sportswear based on the DNA of sports.
A Lotte GFR official said that it will present a new sports collection that reinterprets the Italian sensibility of Kappa and the story from the sports heritage accumulated over a long time in a modern way.
◆ Hite Jinro, exports 1 million boxes of ‘Tran Ru’ to China this year
Hite Jinro’s Chamisul and Fruit Liqueur, with its brand ‘Jinro (眞露)’ (Chinese pronunciation ‘Jianru’) at the forefront, are popular in the Chinese market.
Hite Jinro revealed that the export volume of soju (fruit liqueurs such as Chamisul and green grape dew) to the Chinese market this year has exceeded 1 million boxes (based on 30 bottles per box). It is the second time since Japan in 1994 that the annual sales of a single country exceeded 1 million boxes.
Hite Jinro’s soju sales in the Chinese market have grown steadily at an average annual rate of 41% since 2018. Last year, 878,000 boxes were sold, an increase of about 56% compared to the previous year, and the growth rate also increased.
In particular, fruit liqueurs grew at a rapid pace and grew by 103% annually until last year, and the proportion of fruit liqueurs among sojus also increased from 14% in 2017 to 60% this year.
This growth translates into localization achievements. According to internal tally, 74% of the routes to purchase Hite Jinro soju are local sales channels in China, shifting from sales centered on Koreans to local sales.
<img alt="" class="sm-image-c" src="http://www.youthdaily.co.kr/data/photos/20210936/art_16313277394423_b6f2fc.jpg" title="Jeju Samdasoo production[사진=연합뉴스]” xtype=”photo”/>
◆ Kwangdong Pharmaceutical extends Jeju Samdasoo consignment sales by 4 years
Kwangdong Pharmaceutical was finally selected as a partner as a result of participating in ‘Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Development Corporation’ on the 7th for ‘JPDC Products Consigned Sales Partners Open Recruitment’.
Through this, Kwangdong Pharmaceutical will supply ‘retail use’ and ‘non-retail/business use’ Jeju Samdasoo to all regions except Jeju Island for a total of 4 years from December 15, 2021 to December 31, 2025.
However, three large marts (E-Mart, Homeplus, Lotte Mart), which are distribution channels directly supplied by Jeju Development Corporation, and SSM affiliated with the three companies are excluded from the distribution channels.
The industry expects that the related sales and market influence will increase as Kwangdong Pharmaceutical will consolidate what the two companies dealt with separately for retail and non-retail/business use in the existing consignment sales contract.
Since Kwangdong Pharmaceutical was selected as a consignment distributor for Jeju Samdasoo in 2012, the nationwide retail store handling rate has risen from 56% to 94%. As a result, retail sales also grew from 125.7 billion won in 2013 to 234.2 billion won last year.
◆ Must It “The accusation of catch fashion is groundless… We are preparing for legal action”
Smile Ventures, the operator of the luxury platform ‘Catch Fashion’, filed a accusation against three companies in the same industry for acquiring illegal product information, exaggerated advertisements and infringing on information and communication networks.
Must It emphasizes that it only sells products secured through formal contractual relationships with boutiques in Europe, and that product and sales information are also disclosed through a legal process.
In addition, regarding the allegation that Must-it used product information without permission, it is argued that it has a legitimate right to use the information as it has a formal contract relationship with overseas platforms.
In particular, Must Eat directly requested the disclosure of information from the Gangnam Police Station, where it was reported that Catch Fashion had submitted a complaint, but said that no complaints were actually received so far.
A Must It official will reveal the truth about the allegations through accurate fact-finding in the future. In relation to the contents identified in this process, if it is determined that the accusation is unfair, we plan to take strong legal action through a law firm.
◆ Looking for talent in retail price… Start hiring for Lotte and CJ in the second half of the year
Retailers start hiring in the second half of the year. Recruitment in the second half of this year is characterized by an increase in the number of companies that switched to digital methods such as non-face-to-face interviews and video recruitment briefings and introduced an internship system linked to recruitment. The first place that opened the door was the Lotte Group, which abolished regular public recruitment from this year.
Lotte Group hired new employees from six affiliates this month, including Lotte Mart, Lotte Information and Communication, Lotte Hotel, Lotte Rental, and Lotte Fine Chemical. Intern recruitment is carried out by Lotte Mart, supermarkets, department stores, e-commerce, and information communication in the distribution sector by Lotte Rental in the service sector.
CJ Group has applied the recruitment method for each affiliate since last year. Recruitment in the second half of the year is carried out in 8 major affiliates using a recruitment method tailored to the characteristics of each company.
CJENM’s commerce division (CJ OnStyle) will hold a live commerce-type recruitment briefing session hosted by the show host through the mobile app on the 16th. On the 17th, CJENM’s entertainment business held a recruitment concert-style ‘Recruit Con’ briefing session.
Food companies such as hy (formerly Korea Yakult), Daesang, and Purmil also started hiring in the second half of the year. Shinsegae Group is expected to announce its recruitment plan in the second half of this month at the earliest.
◆ Bodyfriend patents technology to reduce noise from massage chair airbags
Bodyfriend (CEO Sang-Hyun Park) registered a patent for the technology of ‘massage device including a shielding housing that shields noise’. This patent is a technology to reduce the noise of the supply part when air is supplied to the air cell that implements body massage.
Principle of dispersing/reducing noise by enclosing the upper part of the air supply part by making the corner angle of the shielding housing that blocks noise at an obtuse angle. A sound-absorbing member that absorbs air and noise is added to prevent noise leakage as much as possible.
Due to the nature of the massage performed through the contraction and expansion of the airbag, a little noise is generated.
This will provide a more comfortable rest for users who are sensitive to noise and upgrade the night mode, which was difficult to implement with airbags.
[Youth Daily = Reporter Doo-Hwan Kim]
.
