Hotel Lotte, a unit of South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group, plans to submit an application next month for a preliminary regulatory review of its initial public offering, group officials said Sunday.
  

The listing of Hotel Lotte is one of the reform pledges that Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin has made to assuage public disgust over a bitter family feud over control of the retail-focused conglomerate, which has sprawling businesses both in South Korea and Japan.
  

"Preparations for Hotel Lotte's listing are in full swing," a group official said on condition of anonymity. "It plans to apply for preliminary IPO review within this year."
  

Industry watchers predicted Hotel Lotte to file an application with the Korea Exchange, the country's bourse operator, in early December or around the middle of next month.
  

Lotte Group is pushing to complete the listing of its hotel unit by the first half of next year.
  

Hotel Lotte's push for an IPO comes despite the group losing one of its two duty-free stores in Seoul eight days earlier. Lotte kept a location in Myeongdong, a popular shopping district in downtown, but lost the operational license for another at Lotte World Tower in southeastern Seoul.
  

The conglomerate earlier said Hotel Lotte is expected to have a market capitalization of around 10 trillion won ($8.6 billion) when it is publicly traded, but market watchers say losing the Jamsil store could lead to re-evaluation of its market value.
  

But analysts warned the ongoing succession feud serves as a major hurdle as a stable management structure is one of the major qualifications needed for the stock market debut.  
  

Shin Dong-joo, the elder son of Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho, has lodged several legal suits against the Lotte Group chairman to nullify his dismissal from executive posts at Lotte Holdings Japan.
  

The former vice president of Lotte's Japan operation is a major stakeholder of an unlisted paper company based in Japan, which owns a 5.45 percent stake in Hotel Lotte.
  

Lotte Group, meanwhile, dismissed market rumors that it may seek an overseas listing of Hotel Lotte should it fail to win approval from local authorities. (Yonhap)