'Priority early repayment guaranteed if rehabilitation plan approved'

Shoppers wait to enter a Homeplus store in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on the day the retailer reopened 67 of its locations after a temporary closure. [Herald DB]
Shoppers wait to enter a Homeplus store in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on the day the retailer reopened 67 of its locations after a temporary closure. [Herald DB]

With the final deadline for Homeplus's corporate rehabilitation proceedings approaching Wednesday, the retailer's general union appealed to public-interest bondholders to consent to installment repayment of their claims.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Homeplus general union urged "the 1,267 supplier companies to join in consenting to the installment repayment and settlement of public-interest bonds in order to secure court approval of the rehabilitation plan, scheduled for Sept. 4."

"The consent rate among supplier companies currently stands at around 30 percent," the union said, adding that it hoped suppliers would give their approval "so that the sacrifices made by employees and the efforts of creditors bear fruit, and so that suppliers themselves suffer no losses."

The union also stressed that once rehabilitation approval is confirmed, Homeplus will move forward in earnest with merger and acquisition proceedings, and that deferred public-interest bond claims held by suppliers "will be repaid early as the top priority."

According to the union, the total value of public-interest bond repayments for which supplier consent has been sought stands at about 503 billion won ($364 million).

If the consent rate among public-interest bondholders remains low, the rehabilitation court may determine that the plan is unlikely to be carried out due to the financial burden and decline to approve it.

Homeplus headquarters had earlier asked public-interest bondholders — including current and former employees — to consent to installment repayment. Public-interest bonds cover unpaid wages, severance pay and outstanding supplier payments. The share of employees who have agreed to deferred payment of severance and wages stands at 75 percent.


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