Lotte Chilsung picked as prime bidder for Doosan's liquor unit

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- Doosan Corp., the flagship unit of South Korea's
Doosan Group, said Monday that it has chosen Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. as a
preferred bidder for its liquor unit.

Lotte Chilsung, affiliated with the country's Lotte Group, has reportedly beaten
out four other foreign and domestic private equity funds bidding for Doosan's
liquor unit.
The liquor unit ranks as the nation's No. 2 maker of soju, or Korean distilled
liquor, with a 13-percent share of the market.
Lotte reportedly offered between 500 billion won (US$386 million) and 600 billion
won for the Doosan unit. Doosan declined to comment, saying that Lotte will
conduct due diligence for three or four weeks early next year.
The envisioned sale comes after Doosan sold its packaging unit, Doosan Techpack
BG, to private equity fund MBK Partners for 400 billion won last month to shore
up its balance sheet.
Doosan's liquor unit posted sales of 341.9 billion won last year with an
operating income of 21.4 billion won.
Doosan's business portfolio ranges from liquor and electronics to publishing and
apparel.
sam@yna.co.kr