Lotte Group to Sell Lotte Rental to TPG, Revives Deal After One Year

Hotel Lotte and Busan Lotte Hotel to Approve SPA Signing on August 11
Seeking New Owner After Failed Affinity Acquisition
Aiming to Secure Liquidity

Lotte Group has decided to sell Lotte Rental, the leading domestic car rental company, to Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a U.S.-based private equity fund (PEF) manager.

According to industry sources on August 11, Hotel Lotte and Busan Lotte Hotel are scheduled to hold board meetings on this day to approve the signing of a share purchase agreement (SPA) to sell their Lotte Rental shares to TPG.

If the transaction is completed, TPG will become the largest shareholder of Lotte Rental. The exact stake to be sold and the transaction value have not been disclosed.

Previously, Lotte Group had attempted to sell Lotte Rental to Affinity Equity Partners, a global PEF manager, last year. However, the deal fell through when concerns were raised about competition restrictions in the car rental market, since Affinity already owns SK Rent-a-Car, and the Korea Fair Trade Commission did not approve the business combination.

This time, with TPG—which does not own SK Rent-a-Car—as the acquirer, similar competition concerns are not expected to arise.

Lotte Group is expected to secure liquidity and restructure its business portfolio through the sale of Lotte Rental.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.