This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 5:25 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2026.
Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a global private equity firm and a major shareholder of Kakao Mobility, is moving to acquire Lotte Rental. Lotte Rental failed to pass the Korea Fair Trade Commission's merger review and its sale to Affinity Equity Partners fell through, and TPG is seizing the opening to jump into the bidding. It is said to be drawing up a blueprint to bolt on (a strategy of acquiring and attaching peers to pursue synergy) Kakao Mobility and Lotte Rental to lift corporate value, then sell its equity at a higher price.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 27th, TPG and other major shareholders of Kakao Mobility recently began preliminary work to acquire Lotte Rental.
However, Lotte Group says it will supplement filings with Affinity and submit the merger notification once more, so after Affinity's exclusive negotiation period ends and Lotte Group clarifies its choice, TPG is expected to kick off the acquisition process in earnest.
According to the IB industry, TPG anticipated that the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) would likely reject the merger and has been reviewing the acquisition of Lotte Rental in advance. An industry official said, "From the start, the odds were very low that the Korea Fair Trade Commission would allow the No. 1 and No. 2 companies (Lotte Rental and SK Rent-a-Car) to merge," adding, "Even if they resubmit the application, it's questionable how strong the case would be."
This is the second known attempt by TPG to acquire Lotte Rental. In 2015, it joined the bidding for KT Rental, the predecessor of Lotte Rental, but lost to Lotte.
TPG is reportedly expecting that acquiring Lotte Rental would generate synergy with Kakao Mobility, boost corporate value, and lift the equity sale price. TPG is the second-largest shareholder with 29% of Kakao Mobility's equity. Beyond that, Carlyle (6.2%) and Korea Investment & Securities Co.·ORIX PE (5.4%) split equity stakes. Kakao is the largest shareholder with 57.5% equity, but TPG can still wield ample influence in matters such as acquisitions.
TPG and other Kakao Mobility shareholders negotiated through the end of last year to sell equity to VIG Partners, another domestic private equity firm. But the transaction fell through after they failed to agree on investment terms. In other words, from TPG's standpoint, rather than immediately retrying a sale that already failed once, it is seeking to raise corporate value through another M&A.
An IB industry official said, "TPG planned to exit (recover its investment) from Kakao Mobility in 2022, and four years have passed since then," adding, "Given the extended investment period, they must significantly increase the recovery amount to hit the target internal rate of return (IRR)." The official went on, "Internally, they see Kakao Mobility's enterprise value (EV), which was about 5.5 trillion won when the sale was pursued, rising to as much as 8 trillion won if Lotte Rental is acquired."