South Korea’s E-Land World, de facto holding company of retail conglomerate E-Land Group, said on Wednesday its board approved a plan to raise 1 trillion won ($915 million) through issues in convertible preferred shares to cut debt and accelerate the process of converting into a holding structure.

The term convertible preferred stock refers to a class of preferred stocks that include an option for the holder to convert them into a fixed number of common shares with voting rights after a predetermined date.

Local private equity fund operator Keystone Private Equity L.P. will pool investors to sell 1.86 million CPSs at 536,300 won apiece by Dec. 26. At 1:10 p.m., shares of E-World were up 1.3 percent at 1,885 won.

E-Land Group anticipates the recapitalization will help lower its debt ratio to 150 percent.

E-Land Group recently completed its first round of downsizing by selling off some assets including its home and living supply chain Modern House. It now aims to reallocate capital into focus business areas, while speeding up the process of transforming E-Land World into a holding company to improve operational efficiency.

By Han Woo-ram and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]