[THE INVESTOR] Several high profile investors including Korean retail giants Lotte and Shinsegae have joined the race to acquire Korea’s budget fashion brand Stylenanda, according to news reports on Dec. 20.

In addition to the retailers, financial investors and foreign cosmetic firms, including L’Oreal and Shiseido, are also said to be interested. 

Stylenanda recently selected UBS as manager for the sale and is currently receiving bids. Industry watchers expect the deal price to be around 500 billion won (US$461.85 million).

The first attempt to sell the company was made last year, but Hyundai Department Store and private equity firm TPG dropped out after due diligence showed that Stylenanda had failed to pay taxes on some of the sales via cross-border traders called “daigongs.”

Industry sources say that Stylenanda has resolved the tax issue and also hired a financial expert, who used to work for UBS, to take care of the company’s accounting.

Stylenanda was established in 2005 as a budget clothing brand. Stylenanda CEO Kim So-hee currently owns the entire stake in the company. According to sources, its sales in 2014 reached over 100 billion won and is expected to be around 130 billion won this year.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)