MBK chief vows to use personal assets to support ailing Homeplus suppliers

Private equity firm MBK Partners, which owns Homeplus, said Sunday its chief will use his personal assets to support suppliers of the major discount store chain affected by the court-led rehabilitation process.

Earlier this month, Homeplus "preemptively" entered court-led rehabilitation proceedings after two local credit rating agencies lowered the rating of its corporate bonds to A3- from A3, citing the retailer's lack of efforts to improve its financial health.

Some companies have recently suspended supplying products to Homeplus out of concern the retailer may not pay for the delivered goods.

Homeplus said it will submit its self-help plans to the court by June 3.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has vowed to look into whether there were any flaws in the process of Homeplus selling its asset-backed short-term debts (ABSTBs).

Late last month, Homeplus issued ABSTBs worth 82 billion won through Shinyoung Securities Since then, a controversy has erupted over whether it sold such debts even after knowing the possibility of its credit rating being downgraded.

In 2015, MBK Partners acquired a 100 percent stake in Homeplus for 7.2 trillion won, including 4.3 trillion won in loans, from British retailer Tesco. (Yonhap)