South Korean retail conglomerate Hyundai Department Store Group said Monday it signed an agreement with global health care giant Nestle Health Science in a bid to expand its health-functional food business, one of its key growth drivers.

During a signing ceremony held at Nestle's headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, the two companies agreed to establish a partnership for Hyundai's exclusive distribution rights of Nestle’s health functional food products in Korea.

"The bio-healthcare business sector, represented by health functional foods, is an area that is expected to have a high synergy effect with (Hyundai Department Store Group's) manufacturing and distribution platforms," said an official from Hyundai Department Store Group.

"Starting with this strategic business partnership with Nestle, the world's No. 1 food company, we plan to aggressively expand our bio-health care business portfolio," he said.

The Korean retail conglomerate added via the partnership, it will actively cooperate with Nestle Health Science to develop next-generation technology for manufacturing health functional foods. The group added it will also aim to develop food specifically targeted towards patients and the elderly, together with Nestle.

For its newfound partnership, Hyundai Department Store Group said the group's healthcare subsidiary Hyundai Bioland will play a key role in new joint projects combining Hyundai's natural material-based health functional food product development technology and Nestle's vitamin and high protein-based product development technology.

"We are pushing for various new business projects, in line with the group's direction to provide better value for its customers by becoming a close part of their lives," said Hyundai Department Store Group President Jang Ho-jin.

"Through actualizing our aim to aggressively ramp up our bio-healthcare business, we will focus more on securing new growth engines and realizing social values," he added.