Family business round up: Schaeffler, Lotte, Lundin

Schaeffler debuts on stock market following delays

Family-owned car parts company Schaeffler saw its shares rise 8% on its market debut on Friday.

The German family business delayed the IPO one week due to the emissions scandal at Volkswagen, which accounts for more than 10% of group sales.

The company had also scaled back the size of the IPO, raising €938 million in the listing where it had initially planned to raise €2.5 billion.

The IPO sees 11% of the company traded, but deputy chair Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann says the company has plans to expand further and the family plans to list additional shares in six months' time.

The company had been 80% owned by second-gen Georg Schaeffler, with the remainder owned by Shaeffler-Thumann.

Funds raised in the IPO will be put towards reducing the company's debt, which currently sits at €10 billion.

Lotte family feud escalates in lawsuit

Former Lotte Holdings vice chairman Shin Dong-joo, the eldest son of Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, has launched legal proceedings against his younger brother in a bid to reclaim control of the South Korean conglomerate.

At a press conference in South Korea, the 61-year-old said his expulsion from Lotte affiliates in Japan and Korea last January was illegal, and added that he is seeking reinstatement as well as compensation.

"For a long time, Dong-bin and I had our own roles in the company. However, Dong-bin has been greedy, and took over our (Dong-joo and Kyuk-ho) roles illegally," the elder brother said at a press conference in South Korea.

It is not known why Dong-jo was removed from his position last January but media reports speculate that the former vice chairman broke a tacit agreement with his brother that required him to maintain his current ownership stake.

Dong-bin has since ousted his father from the group after Dong-joo attempted to oust him from his position. Shortly after the board of directors unanimously agreed to name him the company's president.

The second-generation conglomerate is estimated to be worth 90 trillion won ($77 billion).

Lundin heir tries to convince investors of uranium merger

Lundin Group heir Lukas Lundin is attempting to woo skeptical retail investors in a Canadian uranium company to merge with his family-controlled Denison Mines.

Canadian-based Denison Mines is proposing a friendly merger with Fission Uranium Corporation which faces a crucial shareholder vote on 14 October.

Two leading independent proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co, have recommended that shareholders of both Denison and Fission vote for the plan to combine the two companies.

Denison Mines is one of 11 publicly traded natural resource companies controlled by the second-generation Swedish family business, which has a combined market capitalisation of $CAD11.9 billion ($9.21 billion).