South Korea's Lotte Group said that work is to resume on a $2.6 billion real estate project in China, Nikkei Asian Review reported. The announcement was made on Thursday. Lotte resumes work after it was halted, following SoKor's decision in 2017 to lend land for a planned US anti-missile system designed to halt outside threats.
The South Korean real estate titan has $2.58 billion invested in the project, which is located in China's Shenyang region. The project will reportedly include apartments, a shopping mall, a hotel, and an office block within the complex.
The complex is scheduled to be finished within this year, according to sources with knowledge of the project.
Chinese authorities stepped in and stopped the project, as well as other activities related to Lotte's retail over worries that they may have cut some corners regarding fire safety and other inspections yet to be finished. However, company officials from Lotte have cried foul, stating that it was an unfortunate fallout of the current dispute between SoKor ally US and China.
Lotte's bid to finish the project may be boosted by recent developments involving a few bidders for the company's financial units. Fubon, Hana, Hanwha, and MBK are all currently in a race to acquire Lotte Group's Card and Insurance arms. The Lotte Insurance bid lists MBK, Hahn and Company, Fubon Group, and JKL Partners as main bidders, Korea Times reported.
Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities is involved with the sale of the units and was also in charge of informing the firms about the timetable for the bid, the latest of which will end up in April. Lotte Group has been forthcoming about the amounts it wanted with regards to its financial units. It is looking at $1.31 billion for Lotte Card and $427 million for Lotte Insurance.
Of the bidders, MBK Partners, Hanwha, and Hana Financial Group emerged the top three. MBK Partners has been vocal about putting together a bid package for the two financial units. Hanwha, meanwhile, is looking at Lotte Card for its retailer Hanwha Galleria. Lastly, Hana Financial Group aims to merge its Hana Card with the Lotte Card.
Shenyang's local government gave Lotte the green light to resume development in mid-April. The SoKor firm, however, is eyeing the resumption of operations in mid-May. The project had faced difficulties after the deal between SoKor and the US about the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) installation.
