Lotte says it has several suitors for its China stores

Seoul

SOUTH Korea's embattled Lotte Group said on Thursday several firms have expressed interest in acquiring its Lotte Mart stores in China and that it is aiming for a sale by the end of this year.

The country's No 5 conglomerate decided to bow out of the business after most of its hypermarkets and supermarkets in China were shut down amid political tensions between the two nations. "We are in detailed talks with some of those companies," Lim Byung-yun, an executive vice-president at Lotte Corp, said at a news conference to mark the launch of the group's new holding company.