Financial investors in Chorocmaeul Co., a South Korean organic food store chain, are seeking to sell the management control of the company, which recently filed for court receivership, according to investment banking sources on Thursday.
The investors, led by Shinhan Capital Co., have put Chorocmaeul up for sale to recover their loans ahead of court approval of its rehabilitation plan.
In 2024, they poured 10 billion won ($730,000) in the organic store operator through the purchase of preferred shares.
Their move comes as JeongYookGak, the majority shareholder in Chorocmaeul, has also filed for court protection.
Investors in JeongYookGak, a packaged and frozen meat processor, are separately looking to sell the main assets of the top shareholder of Chorocmaeul, including logistics centers and to liquidate the remaining entity.
However, its major logistics center in Gimpo, Seoul, valued at about 30 billion won, is already held by the state-run Korea Development Bank as collateral.
Previously, financial investors in JeongYookGak and Chorocmaeul had offered to sell the directly-managed outlets of the organic store chain, but the attempt fell through due to a gap in their valuations.
They have approached the Born Korea, an operator of dining-out franchise stores, to sell management rights. But discussions have seen little progress.
Investors bankers see slim chances of a successful sale of both Chorocmaeul and JeongYookGak due to their financial difficuties.
Premier Partners and Stonebridge Ventures are among the investors in JeongYookGak.
By Jong-Kwan Park
pjk@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
