E-Land ditches plan to sell Kim’s Club

[THE INVESTOR] E-Land Group, South Korea’s apparel and retail company, said on Sept. 2 it has scrapped the sale of its hypermarket chain Kim’s Club as the firm is set to get cash injection from selling clothing brand Teenie Weenie.

E-Land Group picked US private equity firm KKR as the preferred bidder to operate Kim’s Club’s 37 stores in South Korea, but they haven’t reached a deal on the cost. 

The announcement came after the Seoul-based firm confirmed that it inked a deal to sell its entire stake in Teenie Weenie, a casual clothing brand, to a Chinese high-end women’s fashion brand for 1 trillion won (US$890.70 million) at a press conference in Seoul.

“We have decided that the sale of Kim’s Club doesn’t have to be done by force as the deal size of Teenie Weenie is not small,” said Lee Kyu-jin, E-land’s M&A official.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)