A South Korean court has rejected a request to issue an arrest warrant for Michael Byungju Kim, the billionaire chairman of MBK Partners, over its sale of troubled supermarket chain Homeplus.
The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday said in a statement that it had dismissed the prosecution request for an arrest warrant because, while the accusations were serious, the material submitted so far was insufficient to justify the charges.
 |
|
Michael Byungju Kim, co-founder of MBK Partners. Photo from the company’s website |
Last week, South Korean prosecutors requested a warrant to arrest Kim and three other people on charges of fraud and breaches of the Capital Markets Act.
Prosecutors have been investigating whether private equity firm MBK Partners approved a Homeplus debt issue in 2025 despite prior knowledge of a credit downgrade, which potentially could have resulted in investor losses.
MBK is also suspected of engaging in accounting fraud by changing the repayment terms of redeemable convertible preferred shares in Homeplus, valued at around 1.1 trillion won (US$746.99 million), to hide the retailer’s financial difficulties, according to media reports, citing prosecutors.
MBK Partners said in a statement issued on Wednesday that it respected the court’s decision to dismiss the arrest warrant.
“MBK Partners and Homeplus will continue to present and defend their position faithfully and responsibly throughout the judicial proceedings, grounded in the relevant facts and applicable law,” it said.
Founded in 2005 by Kim and other partners, MBK has been an Asia-based pioneer in the private equity business in the region.
MBK has more than $32 billion in capital and focuses mainly on North Asian markets, including the $6.1 billion acquisition of Homeplus by Tesco in 2015.
Kim, a Harvard graduate and former Fulbright Scholar, previously worked at Carlyle, Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs.
