[Courtesy of Bobath Memorial Hospital]
Four potential buyers including South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate, Lotte Group, have submitted their final bids to acquire a renowned medical care hospital using the name of a British couple who devoted their life for patients.
The four selected Thursday also included Korea Yakult Corp., a beverage and dairy product maker, which wants to buy Seoul-based Bobath Memorial Hospital, a specialized medical center focusing on neurological disorders and chronic medical diseases.
Bobath opened in 2002 when South Korea's Nuelproon Medical Foundation was allowed to use the hospital name from Britain's Bobath Foundation. It was placed under a workout program in September 2015 due to growing liabilities.
Markets watchers predicted the price would stand at around 100 billion won (84 million US dollars), describing Bobath as an attractive entity for those trying to take the upper hand in South Korea's silver industry which has been growing due to a rapidly aging society.
It was Lotte's first aggressive business activity since group chairman Shin Dong-bin, 61, was released from detention by prosecutors on September 29 after a court refused to issue an arrest warrant on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust.
The court's decision eased concern about a managerial vacuum in the group, which has been under an extensive three-month probe into alleged tax evasion, embezzlement and other irregularities by the group's ruling family and executives.
The group welcomed Shin's release and vowed to step up efforts to normalize its troubled businesses and investments which have been put on hold due to an investigation by prosecutors that followed a protracted fraternal feud between Shin and his elder brother.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
