Homeplus Secures 200 Billion Won in Emergency Funds, But Hurdles to Normalization Remain

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Homeplus, facing the threat of bankruptcy, has managed to put out the immediate fire by securing 200 billion won in emergency operating funds. However, there are still many obstacles to overcome.

Reporter Jung Jun-ho has the story.

[Reporter]

On July 3, the court terminated the rehabilitation proceedings for Homeplus, citing an insufficient plan to secure 200 billion won in operating funds.

The largest creditor, Meritz Financial Group, and the major shareholder, private equity firm MBK Partners, had struggled to reach an agreement on the funding support plan.

Following mediation efforts from political circles and others, the board of directors of Meritz Financial Group approved a 200 billion won emergency operating loan yesterday (July 16), conditional on full joint and several guarantees from MBK and Chairman Kim Byung-ju.

Homeplus stated that the foundation for resuming rehabilitation proceedings has been laid and that it will file an immediate appeal to the court by July 20.

If the court accepts the immediate appeal, the rehabilitation process will resume.

Homeplus announced that it would continue operations at temporarily closed stores and negotiate with the labor union regarding costs, such as severance pay incurred during the store closure process.

[Interview: Ahn Soo-yong / Head of Homeplus Branch, Mart Union: Please join us in ensuring that substantial follow-up measures are prepared for management normalization, employment stability, the protection of partner companies and tenants, and the restoration of consumer trust.]

While the path to rehabilitation has opened, there are many tasks to resolve.

First, the company must receive court approval for its rehabilitation plan by September 4.

Given that the situation is dire enough that the headquarters and stores were temporarily closed due to a depletion of funds on July 13, the court may demand a more rigorous plan than the one submitted last month.

Restoring broken trust with suppliers is also crucial.

[Interview: Homeplus Tenant: There are many goods inside (the store), and a lot of food items have come in, so the mall can only function if this is normalized.]

Another burden is that a significant portion of the operating funds will be used to pay off 930 billion won in public interest claims, such as payments for goods, which must be settled first.

The company needs to raise additional funds by selling stores and real estate, but it remains unclear whether it will be able to receive a proper valuation for its assets due to declining operational capacity.

Reported by Jung Jun-ho | Video by Jung Yong-hwa | VJ by Jung Han-wook | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.