[Courtesy of Kumho Tire ]
Creditors agreed to sell a controlling stake in Kumho Tire Co., the world's 12th largest tire maker with an international product base, to Chinese tire maker Doublestar Tyre.
The state-run Korea Development Bank said that creditors would sign a deal with the Chinese company on Monday to sell their combined 42.1 percent stake. The price was not known, but there have been reports that the stake would be worth 955 billion won (827 million US dollars).
Kumho Asiana Group put Kumho Tire, the country's second-biggest tire maker with plants in China, Vietnam, and the United States, under a debt workout program in December 2009 due to a severe liquidity crunch. Kumho Tire graduated from the program in late 2014.
The creditors will ask Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo about whether he would buy back the local tire maker. He hopes to take back Kumho Tire founded by his father as part of efforts to rebuild his tattered empire.
Park has the preemptive right to buy back Kumho Tire as an individual, but there have been doubts among market watchers about his ability to finance the deal. Asiana Airlines is the group's flagship subsidiary.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
