As Homeplus Co. filed an immediate appeal on the 20th against the court's decision to terminate rehabilitation proceedings, attention is focusing on when large discount stores will reopen. Although it has secured an emergency DIP of 200 billion won, laying the groundwork to resume rehabilitation, actual business resumption is expected to take some time because negotiations with partners on deliveries and normalization of product supply must come first.
Homeplus Co. said it submitted an immediate appeal to the Seoul Bankruptcy Court on the decision to terminate rehabilitation proceedings. Earlier, on the 3rd, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court decided to terminate rehabilitation, saying Homeplus Co. failed to secure the minimum operating funds of 200 billion won needed for rehabilitation. The court, however, left the door open to resuming proceedings if operating funds are secured.
After that, Meritz Financial Group resolved on the 17th to provide 200 billion won in DIP support on the condition of a full joint guarantee by Chairman Kim Byung-ju of MBK Partners. Homeplus Co. used this as the basis to file the immediate appeal.
If the court accepts the immediate appeal, the rehabilitation proceedings will resume and the rehabilitation deadline will be extended to Sept. 4. During this period, Homeplus Co. plans to prepare a revised rehabilitation plan for court approval and to begin full-fledged talks with partners to resume deliveries. Homeplus Co.'s policy is to move to resume operations as soon as the proceedings are extended and the DIP loan is executed.
However, it is expected to take some time before the stores actually reopen. Since the 13th, Homeplus Co. has suspended operations at 67 large discount store locations nationwide due to a shortage of operating funds and a halt in product supply. To restart store operations, it must complete delivery negotiations with partners and normalize product supply.
The biggest variable is restoring partners' trust. As payments were delayed, some partners halted deliveries or reduced supply volumes. From the partners' perspective, they can resume deliveries only if they are confident that not only past unpaid amounts but also future transaction payments will be made on time.
The 200 billion won secured this time will be used first to pay public-interest claims such as overdue wages and delivery payments to partners. However, Homeplus Co.'s public-interest claims amount to about 1 trillion won. The prevailing view is that there are limits to normalizing management with this funding alone.
While this DIP is meaningful as priming water to keep the rehabilitation going, industry views are that actual business normalization depends on resuming transactions with partners and restoring a stable product supply system. Some predict that reopening could be possible as early as next month if delivery talks proceed smoothly, but the specific timing is likely to depend largely on the pace of supply normalization.
A Homeplus Co. official said, "Securing operating funds cleared a hurdle toward normalization, but rehabilitation will be difficult without the cooperation and help of all stakeholders, including partners," and added, "Support is needed so that Homeplus Co. can come back to life from a win-win perspective."