South Korean outlet operator E-Land to issue IPO

One of the largest South Korean retailers, outlet mall operator E-Land, has announced it will push for a pre-initial public offering (IPO) of the group's fashion business unit as part of efforts to cut debt.

This is not the first attempt to take E-Land public, as earlier this summer, in June, the company had to postpone the listing of its retail arm, E-Land Retail Ltd., until next year. It began preparations for the IPO in 2016, with a plan to wrap up the process by May 2017.

"We could not achieve our goal to attract 1 trillion won (896 million dollars) worth of capital by the first half of this year," Lee Yun-ju, E-Land's chief financial officer, said during a press conference in Seoul, vowing to seek medium and long-term plans to improve its financial structure.

E-Land Retail operates 50 outlet malls in South Korea. Its sales came to 2.06 trillion won (circa 1.8 billion dollars) on a consolidated basis in 2017.