NS Shopping (channel name NS Home Shopping), wholly owned by Harim Holdings with 100% equity, has been selected as the preferred bidder to acquire Homeplus Express. The sale price is estimated to be around the 300 billion won range. Homeplus Co. plans to finalize the detailed terms and move quickly to sign the main contract.
◇ Homeplus Co. speeds up main contract
According to the retail industry on the 23rd, Homeplus Co. is rushing to sign the main contract. That is because the deadline set by the Seoul Bankruptcy Court to approve Homeplus Co.'s rehabilitation plan is May 4. The main contract needs to be signed and the sale proceeds injected quickly to open the way for normalizing Homeplus Co.'s management. Homeplus Co. believes it can begin normalization by using the Express sale proceeds to put out urgent fires and carrying out store and workforce restructuring in parallel. A Homeplus Co. official said, "If we play out an optimistic scenario, a turnaround to an operating profit in 2028 is also possible."
However, some say that if the sale price of Homeplus Express is around the 300 billion won range, it will not be enough for Homeplus Co.'s rehabilitation. Homeplus Express was initially valued at over 1 trillion won, but the slump in offline retail has pulled that down sharply. Mega Coffee (MGC Global), which took part in the preliminary bidding but dropped out before the main bidding, is known to have estimated the sale price at the mid-to-high 200 billion won range.
A retail industry official said, "The most ideal structure would be for the sale of Homeplus Express to be a hit and for Homeplus Co. to revive as well, but at the currently estimated sale price, it may only cover losses. It needs to come out around 400 billion won." MBK Partners, the private equity fund that is the largest shareholder of Homeplus Co., earlier provided 100 billion won in debtor-in-possession (DIP) emergency operating funds, but most of it has been exhausted handling unpaid wages and outstanding payables.
◇ Will Harim second-generation business "Oddgrocer" gain wings?
Harim Group, which is seeking to acquire Homeplus Express, has been consistently cited as a prospective buyer. While several retailers such as Coupang, GS Retail, and BGF Retail had been mentioned as potential acquirers, Homeplus Express has in fact been classified as an asset suited to expanding a food company's distribution business. That is because Harim can use Homeplus Express's 300-plus stores as dedicated outlets for its fresh foods and home meal replacement (HMR) products.
There is also an advantage in that NS Home Shopping, which is centered on broadcasting, could leverage offline channels to serve as a bridge to mobile and online channels. After news broke that NS Home Shopping was pushing to acquire Homeplus Express, it said, "We believe the experience we have accumulated over the past 25 years in handling fresh produce and food can contribute to the stability of SSM operations and sustainable growth."
There is also an outlook that "Oddgrocer," fronted by Kim Hyun-young, the second daughter of Harim Chairman Kim Hong-guk, will gain wings. Vice Administrator Kim took the lead in new business by overseeing the Oddgrocer fresh food direct-delivery platform just one year after joining Harim Holdings.
Oddgrocer is a fresh food direct-delivery platform that Harim Group launched in September last year. It is a C2C (Cut to Customer) service that touts "same-day production, same-day shipping," and Harim invested about 150 billion won to build the FBH (Fulfillment By Harim) online fulfillment system for it. A Harim official said, "It is a structure in which the processing plant and logistics center are connected by a conveyor belt so that slaughtering, packaging, and shipping are handled on the same day." A retail industry official said, "By connecting Oddgrocer with physical stores and adding Homeplus Express's quick commerce, it could secure real growth drivers."
Cash assets are also ample. Last year, NS Shopping's cash and cash equivalents were 137.1 billion won, up 168% from a year earlier. Accordingly, the current ratio rose from 136.9% in 2024 to 164.6%. This means that assets available for use within one year are about 1.6 times larger than liabilities due within one year.
Harim Group sees meaning in NS Shopping resuming the offline retail business it exited 10 years ago. NS Shopping entered the supermarket (SSM) business in 2009 under the NS Mart brand and once operated stores in the Seoul metropolitan area and some regions, but it wound down the stores in 2014 and effectively exited the business in 2015. That was when competition with the SSMs of Lotte, E-MART, and Homeplus Co. intensified and the government imposed restrictions on new store openings.
A retail industry official said, "I see significant potential for synergy with Harim," adding, "Since the price is not excessive, it appears to be an M&A through which Harim can get what it wants."