SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean prosecutors have imposed a foreign travel ban for the chairman of MBK Partners Kim Byung-ju as part of a probe into the Homeplus supermarket chain controlled by the private equity firm, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
The probe by prosecutors into MBK and Homeplus is over a short-term bond issue by the troubled retail entity and whether management was aware a credit downgrade was likely, Yonhap said, citing unnamed judicial authority sources.
Kim, who is also known as Michael ByungJu Kim and is an American citizen, was returning from London to Incheon International Airport on Saturday where he was met by prosecution officials who also executed a search warrant to confiscate his mobile phone, Yonhap said.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office could not immediately be reached by telephone for comment.
A spokesperson for MBK Partners declined to comment on the report.
MBK Partners, which Kim founded in 2005, acquired Homeplus from Tesco in 2015.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Hyun Joo JinEditing by Ed Davies)
