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Photo = Yonhap news |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] As Homeplus initiates corporate rehabilitation proceedings, the National Pension Service (NPS) faces a potential loss exceeding 1 trillion KRW due to its investment in the company. Individual investors who purchased unsecured commercial paper (CP) and short-term bonds are also likely to suffer losses. Meanwhile, MBK Partners, which acquired Homeplus, has reportedly recovered its investment through other successful ventures without incurring losses.
According to Yonhap News on Thursday, MBK Partners acquired Homeplus in 2015, during which NPS invested approximately 600 billion KRW in redeemable convertible preferred shares (RCPS). The total amount raised through RCPS was 700 billion KRW, with NPS holding the majority. Due to compound interest provisions, the RCPS investment has now grown to 1.1 trillion KRW, meaning that NPS’s unrecovered investment reaches 1 trillion KRW.
With the court-supervised restructuring initiated on March 4, the amount of non-recoverable investment is estimated to be 3.2 trillion KRW, including unsecured CP and short-term bonds purchased by retail investors. As of the previous day, Homeplus’s outstanding CP and short-term bonds stood at 193 billion KRW, raising concerns over losses for individual and institutional investors who opted for these short-term financing instruments over traditional corporate bonds.
Meanwhile, Meritz Securities and its affiliates had provided 1.2 trillion KRW in loans to Homeplus, secured through real estate trust contracts. At the time of the loan, Homeplus entrusted approximately 5 trillion KRW worth of real estate as collateral.
Following the rehabilitation filing, Homeplus has been granted a 2 trillion KRW debt repayment suspension and must submit a 10-year restructuring plan to the court. Samil PwC will conduct due diligence on Homeplus’s financial status, including asset and liability assessments.
Homeplus has stated that by disposing of its 4.7 trillion KRW worth of real estate, it could allocate approximately 1.4 trillion KRW to repay Meritz’s loans, with the remaining funds used to settle other creditor claims and support its corporate recovery.
AlphaBIZ Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
