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MBK Partners CEO to pony up personal cash to ensure payments to Homeplus suppliers

Published: 16 Mar. 2025, 16:20

JIN EUN-SOO
[email protected]

MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-ju [MBK PARTNERS]

Kim Byung-ju, chairman of Homeplus's major stockholder MBK Partners, will contribute his private funds to ensure that small businesses supplying goods to the beleaguered retailer receive payments.

"As a major stakeholder of Homeplus, we are listening to voices of various stakeholders and will fulfill our social responsibility regarding Homeplus' rehabilitation process," MBK Partners said in a statement Sunday.

"As part of this effort, chairman Kim Byung-ju will provide financial support to ensure that small business suppliers expected to face difficulties receive their payments promptly."

The amount and the method by which Chairman Kim will contribute his private fund weren't disclosed.

A delivery truck of Homeplus is parked outside one of the retailer's Seoul branches on March 16. [YONHAP]

Homeplus filed for court-lead rehabilitation on March 4 as it faced a liquidity crunch. Its major stakeholder, MBK Partners, came under scrutiny after it was revealed that it procured funding from individual investors right before filing for the receivership. MBK Partners was also criticized for seeking rehabilitation, including possible debt cancellation, without even making full-fledged efforts to rescue the retail chain.

"We had to find the most reliable way to ensure that Homeplus' 19,000 employees as well as 6,000 business partners, including leased store operators and suppliers, could continue their normal business operations," MBK Partners said Sunday.

"Faced with a sudden liquidity crisis, it was necessary to take pre-emptive measures to stabilize Homeplus before it went bankrupt, and we determined that the only viable solution was the rehabilitation process."

MBK Partners also explained that taking "pre-emptive measures" was necessary to prevent social chaos caused by the payment delays of TMON and WeMakePrice last year.

"We will ensure that Homeplus continues its normal business stably under the protection of the court's rehabilitation program, minimizing damages to various stakeholders," the statement read.

Meanwhile, the management of Homeplus held a news conference on Friday, standing before the public to apologize for the first time since filing for the court-lead rehabilitation process.

Its CEO Joh Ju-yeon, at the conference, announced it paid back 340 billion won ($234 million) worth of commercial receivables and possessed 160 billion won worth of cash reserves, assuring that small businesses will have their receivables paid back soon. The CEO asked big companies to wait a while longer.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [[email protected]]