LG Chem Limited (Korean: LG 화학), formerly known as "Lotte Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.", is South Korea's largest chemical company, headquartered in Seoul, and is part of the LG Group. Currently, LG Chem operates as a business-to-business company. To establish a holding company, the "old" LG Chem (the legal predecessor to LG Company) was spun off into "new" LG Chem and LG Care. The "old" LG Chem changed its name to LG CI L. After merging with LG EI (the lawful successor to Jinseol) in 2003, it was renamed LG Chem Co., Ltd. The company owns eight factories in South Korea and has 29 business outlets across 15 countries and regions. This network includes a holding company in mainland China, 14 overseas manufacturing subsidiaries, five marketing subsidiaries, seven representative offices, and two research and development centers. According to a report by Financial Times on April 2, 2017, LG Chem plans to expand its battery production in mainland China. At that time, the Chinese market accounted for one-third of the company's total sales.