[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that Inveni, an investment holding company under LS Group, had its request for the provisional seizure of claims against Contentree JoongAng—which has entered corporate rehabilitation proceedings—dismissed by the court. Inveni filed for the provisional seizure the day after Contentree JoongAng applied for the commencement of rehabilitation procedures. However, it is understood that the Seoul Bankruptcy Court issued a comprehensive prohibition order against Contentree JoongAng on the same day, which effectively blocked the securing of the claims. Previously, Inveni provided over 23 billion KRW in hybrid capital loans to Contentree JoongAng last year.
According to BizHankook’s comprehensive coverage, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed Inveni's request for provisional seizure against Contentree JoongAng on June 19. The claimed amount for the provisional seizure was approximately 2.5 billion KRW. On June 14, one day before Inveni filed for the seizure, Contentree JoongAng applied to the Seoul Bankruptcy Court to begin rehabilitation proceedings. It appears that Inveni moved to secure its claims immediately after Contentree JoongAng, struggling with financial difficulties, filed for rehabilitation.
The dismissal of the seizure request is understood to have been influenced by the comprehensive prohibition order issued on the day of the filing. Contentree JoongAng filed for a comprehensive prohibition order alongside its application for rehabilitation. The Seoul Bankruptcy Court accepted this the following day. Consequently, creditors were prohibited from initiating compulsory execution, provisional seizures, injunctions, or auctions to exercise collateral rights until a decision on whether to commence rehabilitation proceedings was made.
Inveni provided a large amount of capital to Contentree JoongAng last November. At the time, Contentree JoongAng was facing the maturity of 80 billion KRW in convertible bonds (CB) held by JKL Partners. In the same month, Contentree JoongAng received a hybrid capital loan of 16 million USD (approximately 23.4 billion KRW at the time) from Inveni. The loan had a 30-year maturity and an initial interest rate of 8% per annum. However, it has not been confirmed whether the claims subject to the seizure request originated from this loan.
Contentree JoongAng received a decision from the Seoul Bankruptcy Court to commence rehabilitation proceedings on June 30. A total of 146 creditors participated in the rehabilitation process. Claims were filed from July 29 to August 18, and the administrator submitted a list of admitted and denied claims on the 15th of last month. The deadline for the submission of Contentree JoongAng’s rehabilitation plan is December 15, and the plan is expected to include terms for debt repayment.
It remains uncertain how much of the funds Inveni provided to Contentree JoongAng can be recovered. In the first half of this year, Contentree JoongAng recorded an operating loss of 61.3 billion KRW and a net loss of 112.4 billion KRW on a consolidated basis. As of the end of June, current liabilities exceeded current assets by 1.4145 trillion KRW. In its semi-annual report, Contentree JoongAng stated, "It is impossible to predict at this time whether the rehabilitation plan will be finally approved or whether the rehabilitation proceedings will be successfully concluded."
Inveni is an investment holding company of LS Group. Its predecessor, YESCO, split off its city gas business division in 2018 to establish a new entity named YESCO, while the remaining corporation changed its name to YESCO Holdings. YESCO Holdings changed its name to Inveni in March of last year. It currently maintains YESCO as a subsidiary and is expanding its investment business. Unlike other group entities, Inveni is directly owned by the owner family, including LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun, rather than through LS Corp.