Lotte duty-free ambitions hinge on S Korea store licence

Seoul

FIVE bidders covet three lucrative downtown duty free licences to be issued by South Korea on Saturday, and arguably none is more desperate for a win than Lotte Duty Free.

The world's No 3 duty-free retailer's ambitions to one day become the world's biggest operator were thwarted this year by a criminal investigation that forced its parent, Lotte Group, to scrap a multi-billion-dollar IPO. A win on Saturday would allow the beleaguered South Korean conglomerate to reopen a Seoul mega-store and revive its goal of global duty-free dominance.