Lee Bok-hyun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, speaks during a press conference in Seoul on March 19, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 26 (Korea Bizwire) – The chief of the country’s financial watchdog called on private equity firm MBK Partners Ltd. to be more responsible for the recent Homeplus fiasco Wednesday.
Since last week, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has been inspecting MBK Partners to look into whether there have been any flaws in the process of the private equity fund-controlled retailer’s short-term debt sale and its filing for court rehabilitation.
On March 4, Homeplus entered court-led rehabilitation proceedings after two rating appraisers lowered the rating of its corporate bonds to A3- from A3, citing the company’s lack of efforts to improve its financial health.
The company issued asset-backed short-term bonds (ABSTBs) worth 82 billion won (US$56.3 million) through Shinyoung Securities on Feb. 25, despite being notified by a credit rating agency on the same day that its rating was likely to decline.
In a radio interview, Lee Bok-hyun, the head of the FSS, raised questions over Homeplus’s recent plan to pay off some 400 billion won worth of ABSTBs.
“We can’t believe MBK’s plan, and I think they are cheating us,” Lee said, adding that the company has not provided any details of its plan.
Lee called on MBK Partners to share the pain in handling the Homeplus case.
Earlier, MBK Partners said its chair, Kim Byung-ju, will use his personal assets to support suppliers of the major discount store chain affected by the court-led rehabilitation process.
MBK has come under criticism for placing Homeplus into rehabilitation without making self-recovery efforts, though its massive acquisition debt has led to the retailer’s financial difficulties.
(Yonhap)
