MBK: "Chairman Byungjoo Kim Never Expressed Refusal of 1 Trillion Won Personal Contribution"

On June 20, MBK Partners dismissed reports that Chairman Byungjoo Kim had refused to contribute more than 1 trillion won of personal funds at a National Assembly meeting, stating, "There was no inquiry or request regarding whether 1 trillion won of personal funds would be contributed for the revival of Homeplus, nor has Chairman Byungjoo Kim ever expressed a position on this matter."

Byungjoo Kim, Chairman of MBK Partners.

MBK issued a statement the same day, saying, "It is true that Chairman Kim had a meeting at the National Assembly, but the main purpose of the meeting was to explain future plans for the revival of Homeplus and to request cooperation."

There were reports that MBK had conveyed to members of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on June 13 that it could not accept the demand to contribute more than 1 trillion won in personal funds.

MBK stated that, during the meeting, it communicated two main points: first, that a pre-approval merger and acquisition (M&A) is the best way to revive Homeplus; and second, that to facilitate a smooth pre-approval M&A process, MBK, as an existing shareholder, would write off 2.5 trillion won of common stock investment at no cost.

MBK also said, "We conveyed that Chairman Kim personally has already shouldered more than 100 billion won, and MBK has taken on 150 billion won, totaling about 300 billion won in financial burden for Homeplus," adding, "We explained that we would cooperate to ensure the pre-approval M&A proceeds successfully."

Regarding the reports about the 1 trillion won, MBK stated, "During the meeting, a National Assembly official misunderstood our explanation that, when MBK Partners acquired Homeplus in 2015, we did not take out the annual EBITDA of 800 billion won as dividends but instead committed to investing 1 trillion won. This was misinterpreted as a '1 trillion won personal contribution at the time of acquisition.' We clarified this misunderstanding by explaining that we have invested nearly 1 trillion won over the past 10 years in capital expenditures (Capex) and other investments for the company's development."