MBK Partners has initiated a sale process for South Korean supermarket chain Homeplus, aiming to avoid liquidation and reposition the struggling asset for recovery.

The Northeast Asia-focused private equity firm disclosed plans to divest Homeplus by issuing new shares to a prospective buyer, while cancelling its existing stake valued at KRW 2.5 trillion ($1.83bn). The sale follows a court-supervised restructuring process launched in March, after the country’s second-largest grocery retailer came under pressure from pandemic-related challenges and mounting e-commerce competition.

A recent court-commissioned valuation concluded that Homeplus’s liquidation value now exceeds its value as a going concern, prompting the urgent need for a change in ownership. MBK acquired the business from Tesco in 2015 for £4bn.

South Korean prosecutors are currently investigating whether MBK approved a debt issuance earlier this year despite knowledge of a prior credit downgrade. The firm has denied any wrongdoing.

The planned divestment marks a pivotal moment in MBK’s portfolio reshaping and reflects broader dynamics in the retail investment landscape, where operational restructuring and platform repositioning continue to dominate private equity strategy in Asia.

Source: Bloomberg

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