Homeplus Co., which is undergoing corporate rehabilitation, said on the 1st that as of the 31st of last month the consent rate for public-interest claim partitioning repayment stood at 59%. By type, the consent rate was 64.4% for goods-payment creditors and 87.9% for employees.
Homeplus Co. is collecting consent forms for partitioning repayment from public-interest creditors. This follows the rehabilitation administrator's duty manual, which requires creditors to submit consent forms if the rehabilitation plan includes deferring the payment timing of public-interest claims.
Homeplus Co. plans to secure additional consents by the 2nd, before the stakeholders' meeting. At the stakeholders' meeting, rehabilitation creditors and secured rehabilitation creditors vote on the rehabilitation plan. Based on the stakeholders' meeting and other factors, the court is expected to decide by the 4th whether to approve the rehabilitation plan.
Public-interest creditors do not have voting rights on the rehabilitation plan at the stakeholders' meeting. However, Homeplus Co. says more consents are needed because, in the court's process of assessing the feasibility of carrying out the plan, it can consider the repayment plan for large public-interest claims and whether creditors consent.
A Homeplus Co. official said, "Under the rehabilitation plan, excluding trust-secured claims whose repayment terms are set by law, public-interest claims are to be repaid first," and added, "During the repayment of public-interest claims, creditors who consented to partitioning repayment will be repaid in the same manner by type without any separate disadvantage."
They added, "If sufficient consent is not obtained by the 2nd, when the stakeholders' meeting is held, the feasibility of carrying out the rehabilitation plan on the 4th could be deemed insufficient, leading to nonapproval and a shift to bankruptcy proceedings," and said, "In that case, the damage to claims could grow worse."
Homeplus Co.'s results have been recovering since reopening in August last month. Since reopening last month, sales were 116.4 billion won, up 57% from the same period before operations were suspended. The number of customers rose 38%, and purchasing members increased 255%.