KARACHI: The Lucky Core Industries Ltd (LCI), formerly the ICI Pakistan Ltd, has received confirmation from the Lotte Chemical Corporation that their board of directors has approved the sale of approximately 75.01 percent of the issued and paid-up capital of Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited, comprising approximately 1,135,860,105 ordinary shares, to LCI.

The completion of the proposed transaction remains subject to the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement and other transactional documents between the parties, along with receipt of necessary approvals including that of the company’s board of directors, LCI said in material information sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday. The development will likely improve payouts by LOTCHEM in the near term as expansion plan might be put on hold by the acquirer Lucky Core Industries, Ahmed Rauf of the Sherman Securities said. Moreover, LCI’s earnings might improve by Rs15-18 per share per annum post acquisition, he added.

The board of Lotte Chemical Corporation South Korea has approved divesting its entire shareholding (75 percent or 1.135 billion shares) in the Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOTCHEM) at an estimated price of Rs30.5/share.

The parent company disclosed that the total transaction value is KRW 192.4 billion (Rs34.6 billion or $152 million), which is subject to final settlement amount and may change in view of the cash flow at the time of closing the transaction. The Share Purchase Agreement is expected to be initialled on January 26, 2023; however this may change depending upon the progress, as per the notice.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023