Lotte chairman offers to resign from holding company - YTN (updated)

Lotte

21/02/2018 02:02

(Adds details on shares, background, Lotte no comment) 
    SEOUL, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The head of South Korea's Lotte 
Group has offered to quit as chairman at Japan-based holding 
firm Lotte Holdings, following his arrest for bribery earlier 
this month, cable news network YTN said on Wednesday.  
    The report comes as Lotte Holdings plans to hold a board 
meeting later Wednesday which is expected to discuss Chairman 
Shin Dong-bin's situation. 
    Lotte Holdings is at the heart of Lotte Group's complicated 
ownership structure and indirectly controls the group's South 
Korean-based holding company Lotte Corp  004990.KS . 
    Lotte Holdings is a top shareholder of Lotte Hotel and Lotte 
Chemical, both of which own major stakes in Lotte Aluminum, 
which in turn is the largest shareholder of Lotte Corp.  
    Shin's resignation could reignite a family dispute at the 
conglomerate, South Korea's fifth-largest business group, and 
slow its efforts to streamline.  
    In 2016, Shin's older brother sought to remove him from the 
board of Lotte Holdings, which was rejected by its shareholders. 
The older brother remains vice-chairman of Lotte Holdings.  
    The latest development comes after Shin was sentenced last 
week to two years and six months in prison over an 
influence-peddling scandal that has rocked the country's 
business and political elite.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Q32Z0 
    His detention is expected to hamper Lotte's investment plans 
and seek new business avenues to stem losses in China.  
    Shares in its flagship retailer, Lotte Shopping  023530.KS , 
fell 0.7 percent on Wednesday versus the wider market's  .KS11  
0.4 percent rise, amid concerns of a leadership vacuum. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Q41BE 
    Lotte Group declined to comment about the report. 
 
 (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Stephen Coates) 
 ((ju-min.park@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5650; Reuters 
Messaging: ju-min.park.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: LOTTE CHAIRMAN/