Lotte, the Korean-Japanese confectionery colossus famed for its chocolate koala bears and “Crunky” bars, has made a €100 million foray into Belgium that could dramatically reshape the global market for glitzy chocolate boxes.

In a deal settled over the weekend, Lotte agreed to buy the chocolate-maker Guylian – a refined titan of pralines and Belgian truffles whose shell-themed selections appear on the shelves of 60 per cent of the world’s airport Duty Free shops.

Having previously limited its main ambitions to Asia, the acquisition of Belgium’s second largest confectioner will take Lotte into the hyper-competitive international arena of premium gift chocolates: a retail battleground that will pit the Korean-Japanese group against the foil-wrapped mystique of Ferrero Rocher.

Lotte, using an investment company set up jointly between its Korean and Japanese businesses, will buy Netherlands-based Guylian from the family which founded the chocolate maker in the 1960s.

Although nominally global in reach, the majority of Guylian’s annual $130 million sales are made in Europe and its presence in Asia is not significant.

The move into the premium market marks a significant departure for Lotte, whose products, which include a rich variety of chewing gums, have historically been focused on the less sophisticated tastes of children and adults seeking a quick burst of sugar.

As well as attempting to boost Guylian’s sales in its traditional markets, Lotte is expected to use its new acquisition to crack what is thought likely to be a fast growing Chinese appetite for premium chocolates.

Lotte has already begun its thrust into the more mainstream Chinese chocolate and snack market, which has ballooned in line with the country’s swift economic rise and the emergence of a huge middle class. Lotte is planning to launch a holding company in Shanghai, and to open factories in China and Russia.

Because of its size, Lotte will also be able to bring substantial buying-power to bear on Guylian’s margins. The deal comes at a time when many of the key ingredients in chocolate, including palm oil, cacao beans, sugar and milk have all soared along with the global spike in soft commodity prices.

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