This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 5:03 p.m. on May 28, 2026.
Homeplus Co., which is undergoing a corporate rehabilitation process, is accelerating the preparation of a revised rehabilitation plan. It plans to submit a draft of the revised plan to the creditors' council on the 29th and hold a briefing session.
The revised plan centers on reattempting a pre-approval merger and acquisition (M&A) after improving the profitability of the remaining division through large-scale store restructuring. In the industry, attention is on whether Meritz Financial Group, the main creditor, will support a bridge loan in the 100 billion won range after reviewing the revised plan. Although less than a month remains before the Homeplus Express sale proceeds come in, Homeplus says that if Meritz's support does not materialize before then, it will be realistically difficult to continue operations due to a short-term liquidity gap.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 28th, Homeplus aims to submit the revised rehabilitation plan to the court as early as early June. To that end, it plans to submit a draft of the revised plan to the creditors' council on the 29th and hold a briefing. As the court has extended the deadline for approval of the rehabilitation plan to early July, the revised plan is expected to be effectively the last bid to persuade the creditor group.
The core of the revised plan is to raise the profitability of the remaining division by clearing out loss-making stores. After notifying termination of contracts for 17 leased stores where rent adjustment negotiations broke down, Homeplus decided to temporarily suspend operations at 37 low-contribution stores out of a total of 104 hypermarkets from the 10th of this month to July 3.
According to the industry, if Homeplus suspends operations at about 50 stores with large losses, the remaining parent entity is estimated to be able to return to the black. Through this, the rehabilitation administrator intends to reorganize the Homeplus parent entity into a division that can be sold again and reattempt a pre-approval M&A.
Meritz is expected to decide whether to provide a bridge loan after reviewing the revised plan presented at the creditors' briefing. Earlier, Homeplus proposed that Vice Chairman Kim Gwang-il of MBK Partners provide a performance guarantee on a personal level, but Meritz is said to be demanding additional guarantees from MBK Partners and Chairman Kim Byung-ju. The view is that a personal guarantee from the vice chairman alone is not sufficient collateral for the risks accompanying new funding support. MBK Partners, on the other hand, says it already bears guarantees in the hundreds of billions of won and that additional guarantees are realistically difficult.
As the gap between the two sides continues, the timing for the inflow of Homeplus Express sale proceeds is set for the 22nd of next month. Homeplus warns that without Meritz's short-term bridge loan before then, it will be hard to continue normal operations due to a working-capital shortfall, which could in turn unsettle the Express sale and the overall rehabilitation process.
Although not included in the revised rehabilitation plan, whether UAMCO becomes involved is also cited as a variable. The mart labor union and some stakeholders have argued that the government and UAMCO should be involved in Homeplus's rehabilitation process. They say that if UAMCO participates as an administrator, the public credibility of the rehabilitation process will increase and the anxiety of stakeholders such as the creditor group and partner companies can be reduced.
From the perspective of suppliers, if a restructuring entity with a public character participates in the rehabilitation process, trust in the possibility of continuing transactions can increase. Within Homeplus as well, there are expectations that UAMCO's participation, if realized, could positively contribute to persuading the creditor group and normalizing operations.