Shinsegae Co., South Korea’s second-largest retailer by sales, said Friday that it has finalized a deal to acquire Kim’s Club Mart Co., the supermarket chain operator of leading local fashion retailer E-Land Group.

Kim’s Club Mart will be purchased by Shinsegae’s discount unit E-Mart Co., Shinsegae said. The purchase price is reported to be less than 200 billion won (US$184.5 million).

On May 2, Shinsegae was picked as the preferred bidder for the supermarket chain operator.

Shinsegae was separated into two companies -- a department store operator named Shinsegae Co. and a discount operator named E-Mart Co., from May 1.

Kim’s Club, which has 54 outlets across South Korea, posted an operating profit of 2 billion won on sales of 285.9 billion won last year.

(Yonhap News)