"Quick Steps to Secure Future Food Markets"
Lotte Establishes Healthcare Specialty Company
Becomes Third Largest Shareholder in Socar
Amore and LG Household & Health Care Focus on Medical Devices
SPC Samlip Eyes Feed Manufacturing and More
The distribution industry is accelerating new business initiatives to secure future growth opportunities amid rapidly changing market conditions.
On the 11th, according to the distribution industry, Lotte is launching a healthcare platform through the establishment of ‘Lotte Healthcare.’ The day before, Lotte Holdings held a board meeting and decided to establish ‘Lotte Healthcare,’ a specialized healthcare company providing personalized health management solutions. The investment amount is 70 billion KRW. Last August, Lotte created healthcare and bio teams within the holding company’s management innovation office to secure future growth engines, signaling the concretization of related subsidiaries and businesses. Lotte Healthcare plans to offer a ‘comprehensive solution’ covering all aspects of health management, including scientific diagnosis and prescription. The goal is to provide a ‘new healthy lifestyle that accurately understands one’s body’ based on customer health data.
Synergies among group companies will also be strengthened. The food business sector will expand the development of health functional foods and health-oriented products, and Lotte Hotel’s Silver Town business is expected to enhance its services. After establishing the healthcare platform in the domestic market, Lotte Healthcare will expand its business areas to include personal genetic non-fungible tokens (NFTs), wellness medical devices, and pursue global expansion through platform-linked offline centers. The company also plans to actively invest in equity stakes in competitive areas such as genetic diagnosis and personalized prescriptions.
Lotte is also aiming to expand its influence in the mobility market, another future growth engine. Entering the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) business, Lotte is building an integrated mobility platform connecting transportation, tourism, shopping infrastructure, and air traffic. Recently, through Lotte Rental, it invested in SoCar shares, becoming the third-largest shareholder.
Meanwhile, in the distribution sector, additional business purposes reflecting new ventures are being observed ahead of shareholder meetings. Amorepacific will discuss adding ‘manufacturing and sales of medical devices’ as a business purpose at its shareholder meeting on the 24th, following the merger with its affiliate Estra. Estra, formerly Taepyeongyang Pharmaceutical which changed its name in 2015, has been supplying exclusive products to dermatology clinics and hospitals since 2012.
LG Household & Health Care will discuss adding ‘import’ to its existing business purposes of ‘manufacturing, processing, sales, and wholesale of pharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, quasi-drugs, and medical devices’ at its shareholder meeting on the 28th. This is interpreted as a procedural step to facilitate the import of its subsidiary Physiogel products. Physiogel received certification from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety at the end of last year for its ‘Skin Stability Pro Intensive Lotion MD.’ This product is currently contract-manufactured by Naerocosmed in Thailand.
SPC Samlip plans to add business purposes related to new ventures such as health functional foods and feed manufacturing, sales, distribution, and import/export at its shareholder meeting on the 25th. Shinsegae Food will also add content production, distribution, and sales, as well as character product manufacturing, sales, and third-party licensing to its new business purposes at its shareholder meeting on the 28th. The character ‘J-Rilla,’ resembling Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin, has gained great popularity on social media (SNS), and the company plans to expand business leveraging this character.
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