Convenience store giant BGF Retail signs IPR deal with YG Plus

South Korea's BGF Retail, which runs the leading domestic convenience store chain CU, on Monday said it will sign a deal with YG Plus, which specializes in entertainment infrastructure and intellectual property rights (IPR), on K-pop marketing cooperation using CU infrastructure at home and abroad.

Their partnership seeks to offer global K-pop fans the opportunity to experience YG Plus content in more ways as well as new Hallyu material.   

Under their agreement, both sides will launch K-pop concept stores using the IPR of YG Plus artists at domestic and overseas CU stores, integrated artist promotion system using the chain's infrastructure and YG Plus album pickup platform at CU branches abroad.

Running 17,000 CU stores in South Korea, BGF Retail will soon open its 500th store on overseas markets such as Mongolia and Malaysia. Last month, it signed a master franchise agreement with Shin-Line, a Kazakhstan-based convenience store company, to form the new company CU Central Asia and prepare to open CU branches in the Central Asian country.

YG Plus produces and distributes a variety of content based on artists' IPR following globally leading trends in music and merchandise.

Write to Young Chan Song at 0full@hankyung.com