Korea Business News Agency - NSP NEWS AGENCY.

(Seoul=NSP NEWS) = At the August 1st debate held at the National Assembly Members' Hall in Yeouido, titled"MBK's Sincerity: Is Homeplus Reviving? Or Is It a Scam?", the true face of MBK's Homeplus scandal was revealed by the affected parties and industry experts. They explained that it began with excessive debt, and then, through reckless management without spending their own money, the company reached the point of rehabilitation proceedings.

Regarding this, Baek Joo-seon, the representative attorney of Daeyul Law Firm, stated, “There has never been a case of a company with sales of 7 trillion won undergoing corporate rehabilitation so irresponsibly,” and explained, “MBK’s debt ratio at the end of November last year was a staggering 1,408%. However, in reality, only short-term profit-seeking, such as restructuring, is being pursued.”

An Su-yong, head of the Mart Industry Union branch, said, “Since the contracts with about 5,000 outsourced employees were terminated in 2018, there have been no new hirings or contracts with other outsourced companies, so the workload has been entirely transferred to direct employees.” He added, “However, Homeplus is avoiding responsibility for the personnel issue, claiming that there was no ‘restructuring’ itself.”

According to Director Ahn, Homeplus also arbitrarily changed its business areas and sold off profitable stores to secure assets.

Kim Byeong-guk, chairman of the Homeplus store owners' emergency response committee, said,"MBK's M&A did not consider compensation for damages to workers or investors at all,"and added,"However, Homeplus threatened at the meeting, saying, 'What a fuss when nothing happened? We will cancel the contract.'"

Lee Ui-hwan, the executive director of the ABSTB Victims’ Compensation Committee, cited actual victims’ cases and appealed, “MBK has not even contributed private funds until the very end,” and “They lied to the victims using all sorts of difficult terms, but then changed their story to the credit card and securities companies behind their backs.”

Academics and experts share similar views. Kim Deuk-ui, head of the Financial Justice Solidarity, said,"We've been consistently fighting private equity funds, but MBK is clearly a scam."He added,"In a situation where they faced significant losses, they didn't spend their own money and only planned to escape."

“The more LBOs that are done in a loose credit environment, the worse the performance of the company,” said Park Won-ik, Ph.D., a professor of economics at Korea University, adding that “firm regulation is needed.”

Participants in the discussion that day sympathized with the will of the Euljiro Committee and jointly called for a hearing for MBK Partners and Homeplus.

By Soon-ki Lee(s8789@nspna.com) and Hanbin Ok(gksqls010@nspna.com)

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