Lotte vows $29 bn capex including CDMO and UAM biz over next five years

[Photo provided by Lotte Group]

South Korea¡¯s fifth largest conglomerate Lotte Group pledged 37 trillion won ($29.2 billion) to start drug consignment business and groom future mobility while strengthening current mainstay businesses of chemicals, food, and infrastructure over the next five years.

Out of the 37 trillion won, 41 percent will be invested in new businesses as well as in construction, rental, and infrastructure.

The company will invest 1 trillion won to build factory for Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO).

For the mobility sector, Lotte will mainly invest in urban air traffic (UAM) and electric vehicle charging infrastructures. The company will build more than 10,000 charging units and Lotte Rental will add 240,000 electric vehicles worth 8 trillion won to its fleets.

It will devote 1 trillion won in recycling and bioplastics business to produce 1 million tons of recycled products by 2030.

Lotte Chemical will invest more than 1.6 trillion won for five years in the hydrogen and battery material businesses.

Lotte will also invest 7.8 trillion won into building facilities and increasing production capacities for its chemical and high value-added specialty businesses.

The group will also increase support and investment for startups. Lotte Ventures will up investment in domestic startups to 360 billion won by 2026 and also expand investment into food tech and healthcare.

Facility investment in distribution and hotel businesses that have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic will resume with an investment of 8.1 trillion won into the distribution sector. Lotte¡¯s hotel and duty-free businesses will be funded by 2.3 trillion won.

Lotte Department Store is planning to build large-scale malls in Sangam-dong and Incheon. Major Lotte Department Store branches, such as the main branch and the Jamsil branch will undergo renewals.

Lotte Mart will invest 1 trillion won to improve specialty stores such as premium supermarket Zettaplex, warehouse-style discount stores Lotte Mart Maxx, and wine shop Bottle Bunker.

The food business sector will expand its lineup mainly around wine and whiskey and invest a total of 2.1 trillion won into developing future foods such as meat alternatives and health functional foods.

¡°We will make active investments to revitalize the domestic economy and the industry,¡± said an official from Lotte.

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