Homeplus Overcomes Bankruptcy Crisis as Approval of Rehabilitation Plan Sets Normalization in Motion

[Financial News] Homeplus, which has been undergoing court-supervised rehabilitation, has escaped the threat of bankruptcy after its rehabilitation plan won creditor approval and received final approval from the court. This comes about a year and a half after rehabilitation proceedings began in March last year. Homeplus plans to begin full-scale management normalization, centered on 67 stores.
According to retail and legal industry sources on the 2nd, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court held a meeting of interested parties that afternoon to vote on Homeplus’s rehabilitation plan. After the plan passed, the court immediately approved it. This means the court formally authorized Homeplus to make repayments in accordance with the rehabilitation plan.
At the meeting, the plan passed with the support of 100% of the rehabilitation secured creditors, 75.90% of the rehabilitation creditors, and 100% of the shareholders. The approval thresholds were at least 75% for rehabilitation secured creditors, 66.7% for rehabilitation creditors, and 50% for shareholders.
As a result, Homeplus has escaped the threat of bankruptcy and can repay its debts under the approved rehabilitation plan while pursuing management normalization. This comes about a year and a half after rehabilitation proceedings began in March last year. If repayments proceed normally under the plan, the rehabilitation proceedings will be concluded.
With the rehabilitation plan receiving final court approval, Homeplus plans to begin full-scale management normalization centered on 67 stores. After reopening all 67 stores nationwide on the 13th of last month, Homeplus generated 116.4 billion won in sales through the 30th of the same month. That was 57% higher than during the same period before operations were suspended.
The sale of stores to repay creditors will also gather pace. Homeplus plans to sell 19 company-owned stores among the 37 locations that have closed by February 2028 and use the proceeds to repay trust-secured creditors. Once the trust-secured claims are repaid with the proceeds and the security interests are released, the company plans to raise additional funds using its remaining stores.
In addition, the company plans to secure further funds for debt repayment by taking out real estate-backed loans using its remaining company-owned stores as underlying assets. It will also continue pursuing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to find a new buyer.
However, the scale of the business is expected to shrink inevitably during this process. As the company sells closed stores and restructures its business around 67 core locations, organizational and workforce adjustments are likely to follow.
Industry observers say that the approval of the rehabilitation plan has moved Homeplus one step away from its immediate bankruptcy crisis, but that its actual normalization will be determined from this point forward. The prevailing view is that the company’s future survival will depend on whether it can restore the competitiveness of its 67 stores, generate stable cash flow, secure additional funding, and repay its debts as planned.
An industry official said, "Because the hypermarket industry operates through interconnected supply chains, normal business operations are possible only when transaction stability is secured. If the effectiveness of the rehabilitation plan is confirmed, we believe suppliers’ concerns will gradually ease and the normalization of business dealings could accelerate."
[email protected] Jang Yu-ha, Kim Hyun-ji Reporter