The e-commerce platform WeMakePrice, which is undergoing corporate rehabilitation procedures (court management), is unable to find a buyer. Genesis BBQ Group (hereafter BBQ) submitted the only letter of intent (LOI) on June 30 and conducted due diligence. However, it concluded not to proceed with the acquisition. WeMakePrice is at a crossroads between rehabilitation and bankruptcy.

On July 30th last year, the exterior wall of WeMakePrice headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul. Protest letters written by victims who did not receive settlements due to the T-MEP incident are attached to the entrance and wall. /News1

According to related industries on the 29th, WeMakePrice is expected to follow the steps of abolishing the rehabilitation procedure if it does not find a new buyer by the 9th of next month. BBQ conducted due diligence at WeMakePrice's headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul, since July. However, it concluded not to proceed with the acquisition.

WeMakePrice is looking for a new buyer. Earlier, Jo In-cheol, the court manager of WeMakePrice, extended the deadline for submitting the rehabilitation plan to the Seoul Rehabilitation Court due to ongoing acquisition negotiations with BBQ. However, as the negotiations fell through, the merger and acquisition (M&A) plan prior to the approval of WeMakePrice's rehabilitation effectively returned to square one.

Jo noted, "I have reported to the court that negotiations for the M&A with BBQ have failed," and added, "We have not yet discussed future schedules, such as extending the rehabilitation procedure. If we find a new buyer, we plan to negotiate further."

Shin Jeong-gwon, chairperson of the Black Umbrella Committee, a victim group of the WeMakePrice (T-MEP) incident, stated, "We are gathering opinions from representatives of affected sellers regarding the rehabilitation or bankruptcy of WeMakePrice," and added, "We are also considering extending the deadline by a month or two to find a new buyer. We plan to submit an opinion letter to the court as soon as we gather the representatives' opinions."

On July 25th last year, hundreds of victims flock to the WeMakePrice headquarters in Samseong-dong, Seoul, demanding solutions to the T-MEP corporations' settlement and refund delay crisis that spreads widely. /Chosun DB

The deadline for the approval of WeMakePrice's rehabilitation plan is September 9. According to Article 239, Section 3 of the Act on Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy, the approval of the rehabilitation plan must be conducted within one year from the start date of the rehabilitation procedure. The start date of WeMakePrice's rehabilitation procedure was September 10 of last year.

However, in the case of "inevitable circumstances," it can be extended up to six months with the approval of the rehabilitation court. Inevitable circumstances include: ▲ cases where a new buyer appears and more time is needed to complete negotiations, ▲ cases where there are many creditors making it unavoidable to delay discussions, and ▲ cases where the impact of rehabilitation failure is severe and public interest considerations are necessary.

Industry insiders believe that the court is unlikely to agree to extend the deadline for the approval of WeMakePrice's rehabilitation plan. More than a year has passed since the T-MEP incident, which involved unprocessed and unrefunded losses of approximately 1.8 trillion won, and there has been no progress in WeMakePrice's rehabilitation procedure. This is different from the case where OASIS, a dawn delivery specialist, acquired TMON.

An industry official stated, "It doesn't seem easy to find a new buyer, given the ongoing unprocessed settlement issues among e-commerce platforms until recently." Another official noted, "The court will decide to extend the rehabilitation procedure only if a candidate with a high possibility of acquisition is found," adding, "If there are no new buyers, there is a high risk that the rehabilitation procedure will be followed by bankruptcy."

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