Lotte buys $50 mln stake in asset firm from Sparx

SEOUL, Dec 19 (Reuters) - South Korea's retail-focused Lotte Group has purchased a stake in a small domestic asset manager from Japan's Sparx Group (8739.Q) for 62.9 billion won ($48.8 million), in a move to bolster its financial business.

Lotte said in a statement on Friday that the group bought a 21 percent stake in unlisted Cosmo Investment Management and secured an option to raise its stake to 51 percent in the future.

Lotte Shopping (023530.KS), which runs department and discount store chains, and unlisted Lotte Card took part in the acquisition.

"Lotte Group plans to grow Cosmo Investment Management as a leading asset mangement company in South Korea by utilising real estate holdings, redundant cash and sales networks of the group," the statement added.

It will jointly manage the South Korean financial services company with Sparx. It was not immediately known what stake in Cosmo the Japanese business group would be left with after the deal.

The stake purchase is the latest in a series of acquisitions by top South Korean conglomerates of financial services firms, as a new bill taking effect from February is set to loosen regulations on the industry.

Earlier this year, Lotte Group bought a majority stake of a non-life insurer (000400.KS), in a deal reportedly worth about $400 million at the time.

Hyundai Heavy Industries (009540.KS), the world's top shipbuilder, bought a small domestic brokerage and an asset manager for an undisclosed sum in May.

($1=1288.6 Won)

(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)