Hypermarket unit and real estate assets on the block

First sale attempt since court approved rehabilitation plan

A Homeplus store in Seoul [Herald DB]
A Homeplus store in Seoul [Herald DB]

Homeplus has restarted its sale process as the retailer works through court receivership. It is the first sale attempt since a court approved the company's rehabilitation plan earlier this month.

Samil PwC, the lead manager for the Homeplus sale, plans to send teaser letters to domestic and foreign acquisition candidates as early as this week, industry sources said Wednesday. Teaser letters are documents that summarize key financial information about a seller at the early stage of a merger and acquisition process. Large domestic conglomerates and overseas strategic investors are among the prospective buyers, according to the sources.

The assets on the block are Homeplus' hypermarket division and real estate holdings. The hypermarket unit, comprising 67 core stores, will be sold through a business transfer agreement. Samil PwC previously assessed the liquidation value of the hypermarket business based on those 67 stores at just over 2 trillion won ($1.48 billion).

The real estate portion covers 19 company-owned stores among those already closed. Homeplus has said it plans to sell the 19 properties by February 2028 to raise 1.42 trillion won, which it intends to use to repay senior trust-secured bonds held by its largest creditor, Meritz Financial Group. The company would then follow through on its bond repayment schedule running through 2037 through additional real estate-backed loans and other financing.

This is not Homeplus' first attempt at a sale. The company pursued a pre-approval M&A shortly after filing for court receivership in March last year. Two parties — an AI platform company and a real estate developer — submitted letters of intent, but neither participated in the final bidding, and the process fell through. Homeplus ultimately sold its supermarket division, Homeplus Express, to NS Home Shopping, an affiliate of Harim Group, for 120.6 billion won in May this year.


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