이 기사는 2022년 03월 10일 08:08 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Lotte Rental, the car rental unit of South Korea’s Lotte Group, has invested in car-sharing unicorn SoCar in a deal aimed at creating synergies with its own car-sharing subsidiary.

The car rental company purchased 4,055,375 shares or a 13.9% stake in SoCar for about 183 billion won ($148 million) or 45,172 won per share, according to a filing on Monday.

The deal is to “strengthen the company’s mobility service platform capabilities,” the filing said.

Lotte Rental acquired the stake from SoCar's existing shareholders, including Clarendon Investment Partners II LP. The transaction valued the car-sharing startup at about 1.3 trillion won, up more than 30% from its fundraising in 2020.

Post the investment, Lotte Rental has become the third largest shareholder of the startup, behind Lee Jae-woong, former chief executive of SoCar – who owns a roughly 34% stake through his private firm SOQRI and social venture capital firm Sopoong – and SK Inc with about a 20% stake.

Lotte Rental’s 13.9% stake purchase from financial investors has helped clear a potential overhang on SoCar shares ahead of its planned initial public offering. The deal also increased SoCar’s valuation, potentially allowing the company to boost its IPO price.

The 183 billion won investment is seen as a strategic move by Lotte Rental to expand its foothold in the car-sharing space. Lotte Rental operates Green Car, its wholly owned car-sharing subsidiary, which is the second largest player in the market after SoCar.

The partnership will give Lotte Rental access to SoCar’s mobility technologies such as artificial intelligence-based driving data analytics, while SoCar is able to avoid unnecessary competition with its biggest rival. Their partnership could also potentially expand to other Lotte affiliates in the logistics area in the future.

Lotte Rental’s investment in SoCar may provide a needed boost to its shares, which recently traded at around 38,400 won each, down about 35% from its IPO price of 59,000 won. The car rental company went public on the Seoul bourse in August last year. (Reporting by Seul-gi Kim)