A Seoul court has approved the process to find a new owner for e-commerce platforms TMON and WeMakePrice placed under court-led rehabilitation since early September after failing to make payments to vendors using their platforms, an official said Wednesday.

The Seoul Bankruptcy Court has selected the EY Hanyoung accounting firm as the lead manager for the process to sell the e-commerce platforms to help resolve the massive payment delays, the court's appointed custodian, Jo In-cheol, told Yonhap News Agency over the phone.

TMON and WeMakePrice are separately put up for sale, but they can be sold together, he said.

The process will be carried out in the form of a stalking horse bid, in which a preliminary bidder suggests its price for the platforms ahead of a formal auction and other bidders submit their prices in the auction, the manager said.

If a bidder were to suggest a higher price, the preliminary bidder would have to decide whether to take over the platforms at the other bidder's price or not.

EY Hanyoung plans to receive letters of intent from companies interested in the platforms by Nov. 8 and aims to select a preferred bidder on Dec. 11, he said.

Under the court-led rehabilitation program, EY Hanyoung is scheduled to evaluate the two platforms' going concern value and their liquidation value by Nov. 29.

If their going concern value is bigger than their liquidation value, TMON and WeMakePrice are expected to submit their detailed rehabilitation plans to the court by Dec. 27.

"The push for an M&A before the court's decision on whether to approve rehabilitation plans for the platforms or not (in December) is aimed at making delayed payments to vendors as quickly as possible," he said.

In late July, TMON and WeMakePrice filed for corporate rehabilitation with the bankruptcy court.

The payment delays by the two platforms prompted local financial authorities to launch an investigation. The authorities estimated there are more than 1.5 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) of unpaid bills and other liquidity issues regarding the incident.

The liquidity crisis was reportedly caused by aggressive merger deals by their owner, Singapore-based Qoo10. (Yonhap)