Shares of Lotte Group units have been trading bullish since the outbreak of a family feud over group leadership, data showed Wednesday, apparently due to high hopes the fight will eventually boost its governance structure.
  

Since Japan-based Lotte Holdings Co., the de facto holding firm of Lotte Group, decided to sack founder Shin Kyuk-ho from his post in the conglomerate in late July, shares of eight listed Lotte subsidiaries have advanced 6.94 percent on average through Monday.
  

The move to remove the founder from his seat as chief executive and general chairman was seen as part of a power struggle between Shin's two sons, Dong-joo and Dong-bin. The younger son, Dong-bin, was appointed the head of Lotte Holdings in early July.
  

The combined market capitalization of Lotte shares listed on the main bourse came to 27.04 trillion won ($22.9 billion) as of Monday, up 1.7 trillion won from July 29.
  

Over the cited period, the benchmark KOSPI plunged 6.06 percent due to growing financial volatility stemming from concerns over a U.S. interest rate hike and the health of the Chinese economy.
  

Market watchers said Lotte's gain came as the power struggle is expected to simplify the cobweb-like ownership structure of the retail and food conglomerate.
  

Last month, Dong-bin said he would push for the listing of Hotel Lotte, which serves as the de facto holding firm of the group's businesses in South Korea, and try to eliminate about 80 percent of cross-shareholding among its units, which is cited as the main reason for its complex ownership structure.

Dong-bin also bought a 1.3-percent stake in Lotte Confectionery Co. from a construction unit, reducing the conglomerate's cross-sharing links to 276 from the previous 416.
  

"Lotte Confectionery will take a crucial role in the group following an increase in the stakes of the owner-family," said Lee Kyung-joo, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities Co. "Now is the appropriate time to make an investment, as efforts to improve the group's structure are expected to be done within two years." (Yonhap)