Homeplus and major shareholder MBK Partners refuted the Financial Supervisory Service's announcement regarding the results of an investigation stating that they were aware of a credit rating decline in advance and had prepared for corporate recovery by saying, "It is an unexpected situation."
Homeplus and MBK claimed in a joint statement on the 24th, "To prevent bankruptcy due to an unforeseen credit rating decline, we proactively applied for recovery proceedings in court on March 4th," and emphasized, "We did not foresee the credit rating decline, nor did we prepare in advance for recovery proceedings."
According to the statement, Homeplus and MBK received the first notice of the expected credit rating downgrade from Korea Ratings at around 4 p.m. on February 25th. Homeplus prepared a petition and met with Korea Ratings representatives at around 2 p.m. on February 26th. At this meeting, Homeplus explained the liability ratio reduction effect (982.7%→425.9%) due to MBK's funding commitment of 100 billion won and the changes in the repayment conditions of Homeplus' redeemable convertible preferred shares.
They stated, "If we had foreseen the credit rating decline, it would have been proper to present the funding commitment and the changes to the terms of the redeemable convertible preferred shares before the regular credit evaluation in February," and added, "Nevertheless, the credit rating downgrade was confirmed at 3 p.m. on February 27th."
They further explained, "On February 28th at 3 p.m., we were informed by Shinyoung Securities, the issuer of asset-backed short-term bonds (ABSTB) and commercial paper, that we could only secure about 40% of the short-term operating funds we've been managing due to the downgraded credit rating," and said, "We started work on the necessary documents for the recovery application that afternoon."
They noted, "The staff in charge at the shareholder company sought one-time advice on whether recovery proceedings were appropriate for large retail companies in 2023," but emphasized, "However, the advice was lacking in feasibility and was therefore halted. This has no relevance to the application for recovery proceedings submitted by Homeplus on March 4th."
Homeplus and MBK repeated their existing position that they bear no responsibility regarding the estimated 600 billion won damage from the ABSTB.
They stressed, "Homeplus and MBK are not parties to the issuance, sale, or resale transactions of the ABSTB as of February 25th, and they have not been involved in such transactions," adding, "ABSTB is a financial investment product issued to investors after Shinyoung Securities, a special purpose company (SPC) established by Shinyoung Securities, effectively acquired Homeplus' credit card receivables from card companies."
They further added, "Homeplus could not have been involved at all in the card payment receivable participation transaction established by the SPC (similar to the SPC acquiring the card payment receivables from the card company) or in the ABSTB issuance transactions and the resale transactions of ABSTB purchasers, nor is there any fact that it actually was involved."
Regarding MBK, they stated, "MBK only received information from Homeplus about the scale of the ABSTB issuance, and it did not make any decisions or instructions to management related to the issuance of ABSTB, and it has not been involved in any way."
Earlier, In Bok-hyun, head of the FSS, stated at a press conference that day, "Homeplus and MBK claim they did not recognize the credit rating decline in advance, but we have secured specific evidence that they recognized the decline in advance and planned for corporate recovery applications for a considerable period prior."
The FSS notified the parties involved in the 'Homeplus incident' to the prosecution in a fast-track format on the 21st.