MBK Partners, a Seoul-based private equity fund, is pushing to sell some Homeplus stores and lease them back to help repay its debts that are nearing maturity, industry sources said Thursday.
In October last year, MBK bought Homeplus, the Korean unit of British retail giant Tesco, for 7.2 trillion won ($6.3 billion).
To deal with near-term maturities, MBK has chosen Standard Chartered Bank Korea as the lead manager for the leaseback arrangement of Homeplus, South Korea’s No. 2 discount retail chain, according to industry sources.
MBK is reportedly considering a sale and leaseback, which are expected to create funds of around 500 billion won to 700 billion won. A sale and leaseback deal is an arrangement in which the seller of an asset leases back the same asset from the purchaser.
Homeplus employs more than 26,000 people and operates 1,075 outlets in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, including 140 hypermarkets, 609 supermarkets and 326 convenience stores, according to Tesco.
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)