(Reuters) – South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group will acquire Samsung Group’s chemical businesses for more than 3 trillion won ($2.63 billion), Korea Economic Daily reported on Thursday citing unnamed sources.
The newspaper said Lotte Group affiliate Lotte Chemical Corp will acquire various assets, including a 31 percent stake in Samsung Fine Chemicals and 90 percent of Samsung SDI Co Ltd’s chemicals business.
Samsung SDI said it is in talks with Lotte Chemical for a potential sale of its chemical business without disclosing further details. Lotte Group, South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, declined to comment, while Lotte Chemical and Samsung Group did not immediately comment.
Samsung Fine Chemicals could not be reached for comment.
Samsung Group has been exiting non-core businesses since last year, when the company said it would sell stakes in four affiliates in the defense and chemical sectors to Hanwha Group, another local conglomerate.
Other affiliates such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co Ltd are getting out of businesses with dim growth outlook, as well.
($1 = 1,141.9900 won) (Reporting by Se Young Lee and Joyce Lee; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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