Eland Group, South Korea’s leading fashion retailer, has survived the first round in bidding for the Los Angeles Dodgers, industry sources said Monday.

“Eland, which created a consortium late last year, submitted its bid and has advanced to the second round of bidding recently,” an anonymous source was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

Ten potential ownership groups were announced Friday night to have survived the preliminary bidding to purchase the baseball club.

In addition to Eland, they included hedge fund head Steven Cohen, former Dodgers and New York Yankees manager Joe Torre and former NBA legend Magic Johnson.

Frank McCourt, the outgoing Dodgers owner, put the team in bankruptcy last year and reached an agreement with Major League Baseball to sell it by April 30.

The bidding is now worth of $1.2 billion and rising, sources said. The preferred bidder is scheduled to be announced on April 1.

Eland has recently stepped up efforts for business expansion through a series of acquisitions.

Following recent purchases of the Pacific Islands Club resort in Saipan and the Palms Resort Saipan, the group is also eying companies like Ssangyong Construction.

(jylee@heraldcorp.com)