Hotel Lotte loses its licence to run Seoul duty-free shop to Doosan

Seoul

HOTEL Lotte Co lost its licence to run a tax-exempt retail outlet in Seoul to Doosan Corp, dealing a potential blow to plans by the world's third-largest operator of duty-free shops for a public listing next year.

Doosan won the licence for the outlet in South Korea's capital currently held by Hotel Lotte, according to an e-mailed statement on Saturday from the Korea Customs Service. Hotel Lotte, which has seven duty-free outlets in South Korea, has been in the business since 1980 when the country first allowed them.