Kazakh Invasion
The Lotte Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kazakhstan’s Astana Group on April 7 in a bid to boost economic cooperation. Lotte Group's Operation Office Head Hwang Kak-gyu and Astana Group President Nurlan Smagulov attended an MOU signing ceremony the same day.
The Astana Group is Kazakhstan’s largest automotive retailer and real estate developer, which currently develops and operates a large shopping mall MEGA.
As the Kazakh firm is looking to develop a theme park ahead of Expo 2017, an international exposition scheduled to take place in 2017 in the country, the Lotte Group pledged to support Astana’s theme park business plan based on its experience of running the Lotte World Adventure amusement park. The Astana Group will also consider adopting Lotte’s retail channels.
President Hwang said, “We will make an effort to support the creative economy by spreading its signature cultural content theme park and various distribution channels.”
The Lotte Group made inroads into Kazakhstan for the first time in 2013 when its subsidiary firm Lotte Confectionary acquired Kazak-based snack maker Rakhat.
Last year, the group’s fast food chain Lotteria signed a master franchise contract with the Astana Group to launch the coffee chain Angel-in-us. Lotteria is planning to accelerate its Kazakh market invasion in the future by utilizing the Astana Group’s distribution channels.