FTC approves Lotte's acquisition of Ministop Korea

Lotte Group's subsidiary, Korea Seven, has been given the "go" signal to buy Ministop Korea. The country's Fair Trade Commission handed down clearance for Korea Seven's takeover of its rival in the convenience store market.

Lotte's Korea Seven is also managing the 7-Eleven convenience stores in South Korea, but the antitrust authority decided to allow its acquisition of Ministop Korea after determining that there is a very small threat to the market competition. With the approval, Korea Seven is bound to become the no. 3 in the convenience retail market in the nation.

The FTC also acknowledged that the merger of Korea Seven and Ministop would surely cement the former's position in the market and be the third biggest player. This will also prompt a three-way competition and boost consumer benefits.

As per Pulse News, Korea Seven operates 11,173 while Ministop Korea has 2,602 stores nationwide. With this, their combination will surely launch a close rivalry with BGF Retail's CU stores and GS Group's GS25. CU has 15,816 outlets, while GS25 manages 15,453 stores.

CU and GS25's combined market share is said to be 66% based on sales in 2020. Korea Seven was trying to catch up with its 20.4% share. The FTC further said that Ministop Korea is the fifth leading convenience store in the country with a 5.4% share behind E-Mart24's. Now, with the antitrust regulator's approval, the acquisition deal between Korea Seven and Ministop may be finalized within this month.

Korea Joongang Daily reported that Lotte was set to acquire a 100% stake in Ministop Korea, and the deal is worth ₩313.3 billion or about $256.8 million. The company is buying it from Japan's Aeon Group in January while the local FTC was still evaluating if the merger could proceed.

In February, Lotte said in its regulatory filing that it would be transferring share rights to Lotte CVS, and this move makes it the actual group that is buying Ministop Korea. Lotte CVS is wholly owned by Korea Seven, the operator of 7-Eleven stores in S. Korea, and it is also one of Lotte's affiliates.

Meanwhile, once the deal is finalized and closed, Korea Seven will be converting the Ministop stores into 7-Eleven outlets. The conversions will take effect once each franchisees' contract with Ministop Korea expires.