The rehabilitation plan of Homeplus Co., which is undergoing corporate rehabilitation, was approved at the creditors' stakeholders' meeting and then authorized by the court. It comes about a year and six months after the company filed for rehabilitation in Mar. last year. Homeplus Co. will proceed with debt repayment, sales of self-owned stores, and expense cuts under the authorized plan. Once repayments under the rehabilitation plan begin and the court finds no impediment to carrying out the plan, the rehabilitation proceeding can be terminated even before all debt is repaid.
The 4th Division for Rehabilitation of the Seoul Bankruptcy Court (Chief Judge Jeong Jun-young, Presiding Judge Park So-young) convened a stakeholders' meeting in Courtroom No. 1 of the Seoul Bankruptcy Court on the 2nd to review and vote on the Homeplus Co. rehabilitation plan, approved the plan, and immediately authorized it. The meeting, which began at 3 p.m., concluded in about two hours after statements from interested parties, voting, tallying, and the authorization decision.
According to the court's tally, the class of secured rehabilitation creditors voted unanimously in favor with all voting rights. In the class of rehabilitation creditors, 1,883,654,302,176 won out of a total of about 2.4816 trillion won in voting rights voted in favor, recording a 75.90% approval rate. The shareholders' class also voted unanimously in favor with all exercised voting rights. The approval thresholds are 75% for secured rehabilitation creditors, 66.7% for rehabilitation creditors, and 50% or more for shareholders.
◇ Consent from at least two-thirds of public-interest creditors… Effective upon pronouncement
The court explained that Homeplus Co. submitted its rehabilitation plan on Dec. 29, 2025, revised it three times, filed a fourth amended plan on the 1st, and that the amended plan was approved at the stakeholders' meeting that day. It then said, "Considering that consent from public-interest creditors amounts to at least two-thirds, the requirements for authorizing a rehabilitation plan under the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act are deemed satisfied," and pronounced authorization. The authorization takes effect immediately upon pronouncement.
Public-interest claims are claims, such as payments for goods and wages, that arise in the course of continuing operations after rehabilitation proceedings begin and must be repaid in priority to general rehabilitation claims. Homeplus Co., short on cash to pay in full immediately, has obtained consent from public-interest creditors for installment repayment.
Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers, serving as the examiner, noted that if creditors who did not agree to installment repayment demand a lump-sum payment and that amount exceeds available cash, a liquidity shortfall could occur. However, it gave the opinion that carrying out the rehabilitation plan is feasible because it satisfies the "liquidation value guarantee principle," under which creditors are not repaid less favorably than in liquidation, and there are no particular issues with operating cash flow, sales of self-owned stores, or new borrowing plans.
◇ Close loss-making stores, sell self-owned stores… Then pursue in-house M&A
Court-appointed manager Kim Gwang-il said, "We deeply apologize to creditors harmed by Homeplus Co.'s rehabilitation situation," and outlined normalization measures. Homeplus Co. plans to close loss-making stores and streamline operations around profitable locations to improve profitability, while selling closed self-owned stores to raise funds for repayment.
Kim said the company has cut monthly rent by more than 20 billion won and monthly labor costs by more than 26 billion won. Of the 54 closed stores, 19 self-owned stores will be sold after authorization and used first for creditor repayment, and the company will then pursue its own mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Rehabilitation claims such as general loans, cards, trade, indemnity, and damages will have principal and pre-filing interest repaid from the 5th to the 10th year in installments. In response, some commercial paper (CP) and electronic short-term bond investors raised issues with the present value decline from long-term installment repayment and the feasibility of normalization. A victim's side said, "It is a structure that tells livelihood-affected victims to endure for 10 years," and another creditor argued for liquidation, saying, "There are serious doubts about feasibility." However, these objections did not block approval.
With this authorization, Homeplus Co. has moved from disputing whether to liquidate to actually implementing the rehabilitation plan. Once repayments under the plan begin, the court will review whether there are any impediments to performance and decide whether to terminate the rehabilitation proceeding. Even if terminated, the long-term repayment obligations set out in the plan remain.
Conversely, if it becomes clear after authorization that the rehabilitation plan cannot be performed, the court must discontinue the rehabilitation proceeding. After the discontinuation decision is finalized, if the court finds that Homeplus Co. has grounds for bankruptcy such as insolvency, it will declare bankruptcy ex officio.
Homeplus Co. filed for rehabilitation on Mar. 4 last year. After a pre-authorization M&A fell through and the company failed to secure operating funds, the court decided on July 3 to discontinue the rehabilitation proceeding, but when Meritz Financial Group provided 200 billion won in emergency debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, it reversed the discontinuation on the 21st of the same month. DIP financing is emergency operating capital newly borrowed during rehabilitation so the company can continue operating. Following last month's capital injection and the reopening of 67 key stores, the rehabilitation plan was authorized on this day, moving Homeplus Co. into the next stage, where it must prove it can actually carry out the plan.