Hotel Shilla, South Korea’s second-largest operator of duty-free stores, is considering to acquire in-flight duty-free retailer DFASS Group, the company said on Tuesday,
“Along with Hotel Shilla, several other global duty-free operators are also eyeing DFASS,” a spokesperson of the duty-free retailer said.
The move comes as part of efforts to expand its foothold overseas and in the in-flight duty-free market, the official said.
The world’s No.7 duty-free retailer by revenue has been expanding overseas with watch, perfume and cosmetics sections at Singapore Changi Airport and a cosmetics booth in Macau International Airport.
Hotel Shilla posted a record-breaking 2.9 trillion won ($2.7 billion) in sales in 2014, with an operating profit of 138.9 billion won. The figures were up 26.6 percent in sales and 60.5 percent in operating profit over the previous year.
The record sales figure was mainly attributed to the influx of Chinese tourists to Korea and their visits to the company’s duty-free shops, according to analysts.
Miami-based DFASS operates more than 25 duty-free shops in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as in-flight duty-free services.
Sources said Hotel Shilla selected Goldman Sachs as the main underwriter and is in the final stages of price negotiation for the deal.
By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)
