출협 "Seoul Munko enters court receivership... Publishers suffer 18 billion won in damages"

The Bandi & Lunis Yeouido Shin Young Securities Branch in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, which closed on the 17th [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Seoul Bookstore, which recently went bankrupt after operating an online and offline bookstore called Bandi & Lunis, is reportedly planning to apply for corporate rehabilitation proceedings (court receivership) at the Seoul Rehabilitation Court.

According to the publishing industry on the 18th, the Korea Publishers Association and the Korean Publishing Association met with Kim Dong-guk, CEO of Seoul Bookstore, the previous afternoon to assess the specific damage status and discuss future measures such as handling book inventory. They also shared information regarding the court receivership process.

A representative from the Publishers Association stated, "Seoul Bookstore was proposed corporate rehabilitation by the main creditor institution on the 16th and has begun preparations to initiate the rehabilitation process," adding, "It is expected to take 3 to 4 weeks until the court's decision." They further added, "It has been confirmed that the main creditor institution is considering mergers and acquisitions (M&A) after rehabilitation."

After gathering opinions from the affected publishers, the Publishers Association and the Korean Publishing Association plan to form a creditors' committee involving the affected publishers as early as the 21st. Initially, they intend to complete the collection of delivered books in the form of the Seoul Bookstore Creditors' Committee (tentative name) and then recover the remaining claims through various methods.

The publishing industry estimates the damage amount to publishers caused by this bankruptcy at approximately 18 billion KRW. The outstanding promissory notes amount to 7.3 billion KRW, and the total balance owed to publishers, meaning trade receivables, is between 12 to 13 billion KRW. Subtracting 800 million to 1.3 billion KRW from the promissory notes unrelated to publishing distribution, the damage is calculated to be about 18 billion KRW. A Publishers Association representative said, "Including books in the logistics warehouse and store inventory, the total stock is worth about 6.6 billion KRW, and if book recovery is carried out, the amount could be reduced further."

It is known that Seoul Bookstore's financial institution claims amount to 10.2 billion KRW. The main creditor holds 8 billion KRW, and the remaining 2.2 billion KRW is in private bonds.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.