Global private equity fund (PEF) management company Affinity Equity Partners (hereinafter Affinity) will become the new owner of LOTTE Rental, the leading company in the domestic car rental industry. The acquisition price has been set at 1.5729 trillion won.
Affinity noted on the 28th that it will sign a stock purchase agreement (SPA) with LOTTE and LOTTE Rental on the 11th. A subscription agreement for newly issued shares (SSA) will be established with LOTTE Rental.
The main point is that Affinity will acquire a 56.2% equity stake in LOTTE Rental held by Hotel LOTTE and Busan LOTTE Hotel, with the acquisition amount confirmed to be 1.5729 trillion won.
Additionally, LOTTE Rental will conduct a third-party allocation of new shares for Affinity, issuing new shares worth a total of 211.9 billion won.
Affinity had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with LOTTE and LOTTE Rental for the acquisition of management rights equity in December last year. Following this, it conducted due diligence for about two months, finalizing this transaction structure.
With this, Affinity has acquired both LOTTE Rental, commonly known as LOTTE Rent-a-Car, the top company in the rental car industry, and SK Rent-a-Car, the second-largest. Affinity acquired SK Rent-a-Car from SK Networks in June last year.
Min Byeong-cheol, the country head of Affinity in Korea, said, "I am pleased to reach the signing of the acquisition agreement" and added, "We will enhance LOTTE Rental's competitiveness by adding growth and expansion potential."
Meanwhile, Affinity plans to operate LOTTE Rental and SK Rent-a-Car as independent corporations.