Lotte of South Korea, has decided to sell 21 of its stores in the Beijing metropolitan area to a local Chinese retailer, Wumart, for $231m. It will continue to hold a 5% share in the affiliate. Lotte initially considered all of its 112 stores across the country, but finally decided on a series of local sales. Wumart, founded in 1994 and which operates a similar business model to Walmart in the US, has about 900 stores around the country. Lotte has been suffering losses in China.