MBK to exit Homeplus Reit after turnaround challenges

As the private equity firm struggles to navigate the country’s retail market, MBK Partners is making a partial exit from Homeplus about four years after it bought the South Korean hypermarket chain.

The Asia-focused private equity firm is set to sell part of the assets through the initial public offering of Korea Retail Home Plus Reit I, which was launched on Thursday with a fundraising target of W1.6 trillion to W1.7 trillion $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion.

MBK Partners plans to retain only a 30% stake in the real estate investment trust, which owns 51 hypermarkets about one-third of Homeplus' 141 hypermarkets it bought from UK...