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Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin (left) at Lotte Chemical's exhibition of eco-friendly products on May 24 (Courtesy of Lotte Chemical)
South Korea’s Lotte Group will spend a total of 37 trillion won ($29 billion) on its businesses over the next five years, a chunk of which will be funneled into bio and mobility areas.Unveiling its largest-ever investment plan, the retail-to-chemical conglomerate said on Tuesday that it will make full use of its retail networks across the country, including department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores, to expedite growth in the new growth pillars. The massive investment plan followed Lotte's agreement earlier this month to buy Bristol Myers Squibb's (BMS) biologics plant in Syracuse in the state of New York for $160 million.For the bio business, Lotte plans to spend 1 trillion won to build a plant for the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business in South Korea.To expand its presence in the mobility market, it will set up more than 10,000 electric vehicle charging stations at its hotels, department stores and supermarkets annually in the coming years.In addition, Lotte Rental Co., a car rental and lease company, will spend 8 trillion to add 240,000 units of EVs to its lineup.Regarding the urban air mobility (UAM) service, Lotte will use its offline stores as takeoff and landing places for flying cars.
Lotte World Tower in Seoul, the tallest building in South KoreaAs part of efforts to fulfill social responsibility, Lotte will pour more than 1.6 trillion won into hydrogen and battery materials businesses combined. To that end, it will set up joint ventures with domestic and foreign strategic partners within the year to build hydrogen charging stations and hydrogen production plants.To create win-win partnerships with startups, Lotte Accelerator Corp., the group’s venture capital firm, will invest a total of 360 billion won in domestic startups by 2026. To do so, it will expand its investment targets to food tech and healthcare companies.For the retail segment, it will earmark 8.1 trillion won, including spending to build large-scale shopping centers in Seoul and Incheon, a nearby city.The investment plan was announced simultaneously with those of other major Korean business groups, two weeks after President Yoon Suk-yeol began his five-year term.By Jong-Kwan Parkpjk@hankyung.com Yeonhee Kim edited this article