Homeplus Appeals Seoul Court Termination of Rehabilitation Proceedings

Homeplus Co. filed an appeal Monday against a Seoul court's decision to terminate its corporate rehabilitation proceedings. The discount store chain submitted the appeal to the Seoul Bankruptcy Court on Monday afternoon, the company said in a press release reported by Yonhap.

The court had ended the rehabilitation process on July 3 after determining that Homeplus failed to secure at least 200 billion won, or US$134 million, needed to continue restructuring. Homeplus temporarily closed its outlets starting July 13 because it lacked operating capital and could not maintain store operations.

The appeal follows an agreement reached Thursday by Meritz Financial Group, Homeplus' largest creditor, to provide financing in exchange for a full payment guarantee from private equity firm MBK Partners.

MBK Partners is Homeplus' sole owner and acquired its 100 percent stake in 2015 from British retailer Tesco Plc for 7.2 trillion won.