[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Confectionary on Jan. 10 announced that it has appointed Min Myoung-gi as its new CEO.
The appointment reflects Lotte Confectionary’s intention to further expand its overseas business this year, as Min, 57, has sales experience in countries such as India, Vietnam and Russia. From 2008 to 2011, he was president of Lotte Confectionary India, and most recently he was executive sales director of Lotte Confectionary in Korea. He started his career at Lotte in 1985.
Lotte Confectionary’s aggressive global expansion plans come as the firm is seeking to compensate for losses it incurred by handing over some of its core overseas business to formulate Lotte’s holding firm Lotte Corp. in October.
At the time, Lotte Confectionary and three other affiliates-- Lotte Food, Lotte Chilsung and Lotte Shopping -- were split into two entities. During the process, Lotte Confectionary had handed over some of its overseas subsidiaries including Rakhat in Kazhastan and Kolson in Pakistan, which each posted 16.7 billion won (US$ 15.56 million) and 10.4 billion won revenues during the first three quarters of 2017.
“We are currently open to entering into countries offering opportunities for us,” a Lotte Confectionary official told The Investor.
After Lotte Corp. was established, the only notable overseas business that Lotte Confectionary conducted was acquiring Indian ice cream maker Havmor for 165 billion won on Jan. 8. Despite the latest setbacks, Lotte Confectionary aims to become a top confectionary form by end-2018 in Asia and top five globally by 2020.
By Song Seung-hyun(ssh@heraldcorp.com)