Lotte's Korea Seven considers sale of languid ATM business

Lotte's Korea Seven, the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores in Korea, is reviewing the sell-off of its sluggish ATM business, a deal that is estimated at between 40 to 50 billion won ($30.1 million).

A 7-Eleven store in Korea [YONHAP]

Lotte's Korea Seven, the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores in Korea, is reviewing the sell-off of its sluggish ATM business, a deal that is estimated at between 40 to 50 billion won ($30.1 million).

This comes after Lotte Group’s chairman heralded a business overhaul in response to declining performance in the conglomerate's key retail and chemical sectors.

Korea Seven confirmed Wednesday it appointed Samjong KPMG as the lead manager to find potential buyers for its ATM business division.

Korea Seven merged with Lotte PSNet — an operator of cash dispensers and ATMs across different retail outlets, including convenience stores and supermarkets — in 2019 for synergy between its convenience store and ATM operations.

"We are considering the divestment to focus on our core business area of the convenience store operations," a Korea Seven official told the Korea JoongAng Daily Wednesday. "This involves transitioning from direct operations to a consignment operation model, akin to other convenience store operators."

Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin announced his commitment to "sell off long-struggling businesses" in an interview with Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun in January. Korea Seven's sell-off of its ATM business marks the first of such divestitures within the group following his statement.

Lotte previously offloaded its Japanese operations for the Lotteria hamburger chain, stakes in the TGI Fridays family restaurant chain, shares in the Vietnamese confectionery company Bibica, and Lotte Aluminum's boiler business.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]