9 February 2006
The London Stock Exchange is delighted to welcome Lotte Shopping Co. Ltd to the Main Market.
The London Stock Exchange is delighted to welcome Lotte Shopping Co. Ltd, a leading South Korean retailer, to the Main Market. Lotte Shopping is the second company to simultaneously dual-list in
London and Seoul .
Since opening its first department store in Seoul in 1979, Lotte Shopping has grown to become the largest department store and the third largest discount store chain operator in Korea. The company controls 43 per cent of Korea’s 16.5 trillion won (US$17 billion) department store market and 12 per cent of Korea’s 21.5 trillion won (US$22 billion) discount retail sector, which has trebled in size since 1999.
The company raised a total of US$3.5 billion (approximately 3.4 trillion Won or £1.9 billion) in its Initial Public Offering in London and Seoul - the largest ever IPO by a Korean company. Lotte Shopping’s offering comprises 8.57 million common shares, including 6.86 million common shares which were offered as Global Depositary Shares outside Korea (with one common share representing 20 GDSs).
To celebrate the occasion, Mr In-Won Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lotte Department Store, opened the London Stock Exchange’s markets by switching on ‘The Source’, a specially commissioned artwork in the main atrium of the Exchange’s building in Paternoster Square. He was accompanied by Chris Gibson-Smith, Chairman of the London Stock Exchange.
Chris Gibson-Smith said:
“We are delighted that Lotte Shopping has chosen London for its listing outside Korea. Lotte Shopping’s listing demonstrates that world-class companies from Korea can use a London listing to access deep pools of international capital and take their place amongst a truly global peer group.”
Lotte Shopping’s IPO brings the total number of Korean companies listed on the London Stock Exchange to nine. A further seven Korean Depository Receipts are also traded on the International Order Book (IOB).
