Troubled Lotte group scraps huge IPO amid probe

Call spade a spade. The whole trouble is due to discrimination against Japaneseness of Lotte group. The new president Shin Dong Bin speaks Japanese better than he speaks Korean, even though he is a Korean. Shin Dong Joo cannot speak Korean. So, Lotte is now recognized as a "Japanese" company and thus this mess.

YonHap News

http://news.kathabuzz.com/url2.php?u=english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2015/08/18/0501000000AEN20150818000600320.html

As the shareholders meeting is just the beginning of the reinvention of the conglomerate, Chairman Shin must fist reestablish the identity of Lotte. The family feud made our people seriously wonder if the conglomerate is really a Korean company given the weird governance structure in which Lotte Holdings of Japan dominates the Lotte Group in Korea. New Chairman Shin has repeatedly underscored that Lotte is a Korean company. He also pledged to cut off the complex links of governance structure between Korea and Japan through easing intricately connected cross-shareholdings among a myriad of affiliates and turning Lotte Hotel in Seoul into a listed firm in the local bourse. We will watch if he keeps his promise.

I personally don't think origin should matter as long as you have a quality product or suite of products, but Asia has the whole "origin" problem. Even if you have an amazing product, people will tend to choose the homegrown and domestic one, even if it's inferior.

but Asia has the whole "origin" problem.

Only Asia?

The father (and founder) favored his younger son by putting him in charge of the larger Japanese confectionery business while the elder son got Korea which was much smaller at the time. So the sibling rivalry and classic family squabbles go back a long way........