Lotte Chemical’s Yeosu petrochemical complex. (image: Lotte Chemical)
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Lotte Chemical Corp. said Friday it plans to raise 1.1 trillion won (US$824.4 million) in a rights offering as part of efforts to secure funds for its acquisition of a local copper foil maker.
Lotte Chemical will issue 8.5 million common shares at a price of 130,000 won per share, the chemical unit of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group said in a regulatory filing.
The rights offering is to “raise funds for the acquisition of the stake in a company that we announced in October,” Lotte said in a media release, referring to Iljin Materials Co., a major South Korean copper foil producer.
Lotte Chemical said last month it will buy a 53.3 percent stake in Iljin Materials for about 2.7 trillion won, in a bid to advance into the battery components sector.
Its rights offering had been widely speculated.
Lotte Chemical said in a recent earnings call that it plans to raise about 1.7 trillion won and it is in talks with financial institutions over the matter.
Lotte Chemical posted consecutive operating losses in the second and third quarters of this year amid weak petrochemical demand.
Lotte Chemical unveiled a 4 trillion-won investment plan to bolster its battery materials business, which manufactures cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, separators and other objects.
(Yonhap)
