이 기사는 2022년 03월 15일 07:40 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Lotte Corp, the holding company of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group, is being transformed into an investment holding company after it introduced the so-called headquarters-based structure.

Lotte Corp will establish Lotte Heathcare as soon as the end of March. The holding company has decided to invest a combined 70 billion won ($56.4 million) into the new company and its board approved the plan recently. Lotte Healthcare will be created to establish healthcare platform and expand investments in the industry.

The decision comes after Lotte Corp newly set up a healthcare team under its ESG (environmental, social and governance) corporate innovation office last year. The healthcare team is led by Woo Woong-jo, who managed health services at Samsung Electronics. The team has been renamed new growth team 3. The new growth teams 1 and 2 are in charge of discovering future growth engines in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and the biotech sector, respectively,

Lotte Corp has focused on seeking businesses that Lotte can do best among those that Lotte has not tried. The healthcare business has been considered one of the options and the new growth team 3 has played a role in materializing the plan.

Lotte Healthcare will create a platform that provides healthcare solutions across all areas and aims to expand beyond the domestic health market. It also plans to develop health functional food and health-related products in partnership with food companies and promote a senior community business.

“We are in the stage of planning the establishment of an entity and need to further materialize the business in the future,” an official at Lotte Corp said. “We will carry out the business in a way that maximizes synergy with Lotte’s affiliates.”

The launch of Lotte Healthcare is meaningful in that Lotte Group will make a foray into the healthcare market and Lotte Corp is evolving into an investment holding company actively seeking new growth engines.

Lotte Group introduced the headquarters-based structure with an aim to manage affiliates in a more flexible manner and transforming Lotte Corp into an investment holding company. With the structural change, Lotte has seven headquarters, including retail, food, hotel, chemical, construction, rental and infrastructure, with each headquarters having their own control tower.

From the perspective of managing affiliates, the role of Lotte Corp has been greatly reduced, the Lotte Corp official said.

Lotte Corp said it will focus more on its role as a holding company when it announced its plans to overhaul its business structure. It plans to step up efforts to establish strategies for the entire group, upgrade its portfolio, promote new businesses and nurture talents. It has also created a business support team under Lotte Corp’s ESG corporate innovation office in a bid to strengthen communication among the holding company, headquarters and affiliates.

The ESG corporate innovation office, led by executive vice president Lee Hoon-ki, is leading Lotte Corp’s transition into an investment holding company. (Reporting by Hyo-beom Lee)