MBK Partners, a Northeast Asia-focused private equity firm, said on Friday it is seeking to put up for sale its embattled South Korean supermarket chain Homeplus to avert the retailer’s liquidation.
In March, MBK Partners filed for a court-led restructuring of South Korea’s No. 2 grocery retailer to avoid bankruptcy of the firm, which has been reeling from the pandemic and rising competition from e-commerce rivals.
MBK Partners said a recent review commissioned by the court showed that its liquidation value is higher than the going concern value.
MBK Partners said the retailer plans to issue new shares and sell them to a buyer, while MBK will cancel the 2.5 trillion Korean won ($1.83 billion) worth shares it currently owns.
The private equity firm struck the deal to buy Homeplus in 2015 from Britain’s Tesco for 4 billion pounds.
South Korean prosecutors are investigating whether MBK Partners approved Homeplus’s debt issue in 2025 despite prior knowledge of a credit downgrade for the retailer. MBK has denied the allegation.
Prosecutors imposed in May a foreign travel ban for the chairman of MBK Partners, Kim Byung-ju, as part of the probe.
Reuters
