The Seoul Rehabilitation Court has further extended the deadline for approval of Homeplus' rehabilitation plan to July 3. The move aims to reflect the outcome of the sale process for the Homeplus Express division, which has entered its final stage, and to improve the feasibility of executing the plan.

The court's Rehabilitation Division 4, headed by Chief Judge Jeong Jun-young, said on Wednesday it would extend the deadline by 2 months from the original May 4 date. The extension follows an earlier move to push the deadline back to May 4 from March 4.

The court cited 2 reasons for the extension. It said the sale of Homeplus Express is substantially under way, with a preferred bidder selected and a share transfer agreement expected. It also said Homeplus' administrator presented a plan to raise funds through additional emergency operating funds, or DIP financing, after signing the agreement.

The court said it needed to wait for the ongoing sale process and follow-up steps to be properly completed to improve the likelihood the rehabilitation plan can be carried out.

The court plans to complete the signing of the share transfer agreement and the payment of the deposit within this month, and to pay the balance and conclude the deal in June. After that, if a revised rehabilitation plan is submitted based on proceeds from the Express sale and additional financing, it will set a date for a meeting of interested parties and proceed with the review and voting process.

Harim Group affiliate NS Shopping was selected on April 23 as the preferred bidder for the Homeplus Express unit and is reviewing the acquisition.