The Seoul Bankruptcy Court demanded that Homeplus Co. and its largest shareholder, MBK Partners, specify a plan to raise 200 billion won in funding by the 30th.
The 4th Division of the Seoul Bankruptcy Court (Presiding Judge Jeong Jun-young) said on the 23rd that it sought opinions from the Homeplus Co. creditors' council, shareholders, labor union, employee representatives, and the Seoul Bankruptcy Court management committee on excluding the rehabilitation plan and terminating the rehabilitation proceedings.
According to the opinion inquiry disclosed by the court, Homeplus Co. said that 200 billion won in external funding is needed to carry out the so-called "structural innovation-type rehabilitation plan," but it has not yet been able to submit to the court realistic and specific evidentiary materials regarding the funding plan.
Accordingly, the court asked key stakeholders for their views on "making a decision not to submit the already filed rehabilitation plan to deliberation or resolution at the stakeholders' meeting on the grounds that it is not feasible, and terminating these rehabilitation proceedings." The deadline for submitting opinions is the 30th. If a plan to raise 200 billion won in funding is not prepared by then, it is interpreted to mean the court will not approve the rehabilitation plan.
With the deadline to approve the rehabilitation plan looming on July 3, the move is being interpreted as, in effect, a final ultimatum from the court.
Earlier, Homeplus Co. sold its supermarket unit, Homeplus Express, to NS Shopping, but it remains difficult to implement the previously submitted rehabilitation plan unless 200 billion won needed for wages and payments to suppliers is secured.
MBK Partners, the largest shareholder of Homeplus Co., is asking Meritz Financial, the largest creditor, for 200 billion won in funding support. However, while Meritz has mentioned the possibility of providing debtor-in-possession (DIP) emergency operating funds, its position is that the responsibility of management, including the largest shareholder, must be a precondition.