Right after wrapping up the deal of buying the Kotobuki’s 70 percent capital contribution in the Hai Thanh – Kotobuki joint venture, Hotels & Resorts Lotte, a subsidiary of Lotte group, has immediately added “Lotte” into the hotel, changing it into “Lotte Legend Saigon.”

A representative of Lotte said it’s the right of Lotte to change the hotel’s name, because the hotel has belonged to Lotte Hotels & Resorts, not to the Hai Thanh – Kotobuki any more.

Especially, Hide Ishiyama, the managing director of the hotel, has put a high hope on the name changing, believing that this would help improve the hotel’s business performance.

Analysts have commented that with the move, Lotte has shown its strong determination to implement the plan to expand its business in Vietnam by pumping more capital into the projects and developing its brand in the market.

One year ago, Lotte once competed with Vietnamese Hanel, a partner in the Daewoo-Hanel joint venture, in the affair of buying 70 percent of stakes of the South Korean partner in the venture to acquire Daewoo hotel, a 5-star hotel located on the golden land area of the capital city.

However, Lotte did not succeed in the affair, while 70 percent of the stakes finally fell into the hands of Hanel. If the deal had succeeded, Lotte would have possessed two big real estate works located close to each other on the same golden land area in Hanoi.

Lottle also showed its ambition to take over Bibica, a Vietnamese sweets manufacturer. 

One year ago, Lotte, a partner of Bibica, suggested changing the name “Bibica” into “Lotte-Bibica.” The idea then faced the strong opposition from Bibica’s board of management. The plan was also vetoed by the big shareholders, which made the plan fail completely.

However, analysts have commented that Lotte still have the opportunities and power to implement its plan. The South Korean partner now holds 38.6 percent of Bibica’s stakes. And with its powerful financial capability, the group would be likely to increase its ownership ratio to 49 percent one day.

Regarding the affair with Legend Saigon, the value of the transfer deal has not been declared by Lotte, but analysts say Lottle had a good deal in this case.

Marc Townsend, CEO of CBRE Vietnam, a real estate service provider, has quoted the firm’s sources as saying that the value of the deal was $62.5 million. The figure was lower than the sale price of $93.9 million, at which Kumho Engineering & Construction sold Kumho Asiana Plaza Saigon to Asiana Airlines. Both the seller and buyer are the subsidiaries of Kumho Group.

Meanwhile, Lee Jong Kook, General Director of Lotte Center Hanoi, has told the local press that the investor now tries to speed up the implementation of the project so as to put the center into operation by 2014.

He also said that Lotte, with the ambition to become one of the 10 biggest economic groups in Asia, has been expanding its business in the region, including Vietnam.

As such, Lottle has geared up with its plan to become a brand of the high end hotel chains, not only in Vietnam.

Korea Times has reported that Lotte Hotels & Resorts plans to increase the number of hotels to 40 in Korea and to 15 in other countries. 

Vietnamnet