South Korean retail conglomerate Lotte Group has won the race to buy local convenience store chain Buy The Way for around KRW275bn (US$237.1m).

Officials close to Unitas Capital, the private-equity owner of Buy The Way, confirmed the sale to just-food today (27 January), which comes four years after acquiring the business.

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Buy The Way is the fourth-largest convenience store business in South Korea with around 1,400 stores, up from 980 outlets when Unitas bought the chain in 2006 for KRW190bn.

Lotte is the owner of the Korean 7-11 franchise and snapped up Buy The Way through its Korea Seven unit.

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