A joint venture between FLC Group and Lotte Land has been formed in early June with a chartered capital of over $24 million to invest in a real estate project in Hanoi.
It is the first time the Ho Chi Minh City-based property developer has appointed a foreign contractor for its high-end projects.
No supermarket was opened in the past eight months though Lotte Vietnam Shopping Joint Stock Company has set out an ambitious plan to open more 12 Lotte Mart supermarkets in Vietnam since early this year.
Lotte Card is going to focus on developing non-cash consumer finance and applying financial technology, commonly known as fintech or findata in Vietnam.
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Strong growth of sales over the past years helped Lotte Vietnam boost its profit but it still cannot offset its accumulated losses.
Lotte has been accused of illegaly using land to build commercial center in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, since 2014 to date, without paying land rent and owning a certificate of land use rights, according to the Government Inspectorate.
The mammoth Korean retail group, Lotte has no plan to leave Vietnam despite its current inefficient operation as the group targets to start making profit by 2020.
The divestment in TechcomFinance is expected to help the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) record an extraordinary profit of more than VND1.1 trillion (US$48.4 million) in the first and second quarter of this year.
The acquisition of Techcombank's finance company allows Lotte Card to enter the booming consumer finance market in Vietnam.
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After 10 years investing in Vietnam, Lotte Group has opened 13 supermarkets despite continuous losses.
