Financial watchdog looking into MBK Partners over Homeplus takeover

Seoul, Aug 27 (IANS) The country's financial watchdog sent staff to MBK Partners Ltd.'s office on Wednesday, to investigate any irregularities in the process of the private equity fund's acquisition of now-troubled retailer Homeplus.

MBK Partners acquired a 100 per cent stake in Homeplus in 2015 from British retailer Tesco Plc for 7.2 trillion won ($5.2 billion), reports Yonhap news agency.

The on-site probe by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) came as the watchdog is expanding its investigation into details of MBK Partner's takeover of Homeplus, including the fundraising scheme.

The move came after the FSS referred MBK Partners to the prosecution for a further probe into Homeplus' debt sale fiasco.

The FSS has accused Homeplus of selling short-term debts while being aware of an imminent rating downgrade, while also arguing that the equity fund had prepared for a court rehabilitation scheme for a long period of time without self-recovery efforts amid the retailer's weakening financial status.

Homeplus entered court-led rehabilitation proceedings in March.

MBK Partners earlier said its chair, Kim Byung-ju, will use his personal assets to support suppliers of the major discount store chain affected by the court-led rehabilitation process.

The FSS' on-site probe into MBK also came as the retailer said it will close 15 out of its 125 outlets here as part of emergency management measures amid a worsening business environment, which drew criticism from the political sector and civic groups.

The probe also comes as Lee Chan-jin, nominee for the FSS' new chief, is set to undergo a parliamentary hearing early next month.

Meanwhile, South Korean stocks opened nearly flat on Wednesday as investors sat on the sidelines ahead of Nvidia's upcoming second-quarter earnings report, which may offer cues on the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) edged down 1.09 points, or 0.03 percent, to 3,178.27 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

--IANS

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