MBK chairman offers guarantee for emergency funding to revive Homeplus

SEOUL, July 15 (Reuters) - MBK Partners Chairman Michael Byungju Kim has offered a personal guarantee of 200 billion won ($134 million) in emergency funding for supermarket chain Homeplus, which is

SEOUL, July 15 (Reuters) - MBK Partners Chairman Michael Byungju Kim has offered a personal guarantee of 200 billion won ($134 million) in emergency funding for supermarket chain Homeplus, which is owned by the private equity firm, if the retailer's lender agrees to provide the financing needed for its turnaround, MBK said on Wednesday. A South Korean court earlier this month terminated Homeplus' corporate rehabilitation proceedings after the retailer failed to secure the funding needed to implement its restructuring plan. If lender Meritz Financial Group approves the proposal at a board meeting scheduled for Thursday, Homeplus could re-enter rehabilitation proceedings.

If not, the retailer could file for bankruptcy as early as this week, according to media reports. Mertiz Financial was not available for comment outside regular business hours. Homeplus is South Korea's second-largest retailer and employs about 25,000 people.

MBK Partners and Meritz are facing growing pressure from the ruling Democratic party to provide emergency funding and devise measures to keep Homeplus operating. The party is due to hold a parliamentary hearing on the retailer's situation on July 27. ($1 = 1,492.3800 won)

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin. Editing by Mark Potter)