South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has approved a deal by Emart Inc., the country's biggest discount store chain, to buy the professional baseball club owned by energy and telecom giant SK Group.

Emart, a unit of retail giant Shinsegae Group, agreed in January to buy the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) from SK Telecom Co., the top mobile carrier, for 135.2 billion won ($122 million).

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it has given the green light to the proposed deal as it is not likely to hurt market competition.

The corporate watchdog said it expects the approval will help revitalize the baseball league, which has suffered heavy losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)