Lotte Holdings Co. on Wednesday announced the public listing of its confectionery unit Lotte Co. as early as next year, as it seeks to improve management transparency amid a struggle for control by the sons of the group's founder.
It would be the largest listing of a confectionery company in Japan since snack food maker Calbee Inc. went public in 2011 with a total of 31.7 million shares, valued at roughly ¥66.5 billion at the time of its debut.
Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings, which serves as the headquarters for the South Korean-Japanese conglomerate, has already decided to list Hotel Lotte Co., a de facto holding company on the South Korean side, early next year. The listing of Lotte Co. is likely to follow.
South Korea-born Takeo Shigemitsu, 93, whose Korean name is Shin Kyuk-ho, founded Lotte in 1948 as a chewing gum maker and distributor. The company's sales for fiscal 2014 ending this March totaled ¥126.6 billion.
Shigemitsu's elder son, Hiroyuki, 61, had been leading Lotte's Japan business, but he was dismissed as the vice chairman of the holding company in January.
Hiroyuki has been fighting for control of the company against his younger brother, Akio, 60, who became the vice chairman.
In August, an extraordinary shareholders meeting approved the current management, led by Akio.