More News On Kumho Sale

In South Korea, Kumho has revealed that it is on the verge of selling 80 per cent of its tyre unit for a price between $1.2 and $1.5 billion.

The buyer is named only as “a foreign investment fund” but unconfirmed reports link the sale with J P Morgan and the private equity fund Carlyle Group. Carlyle was favourite to buy the ContiTech division when it was up for sale. Another report says that three foreign potential purchasers are in the running and an agreement should be reached in the next few months.

The Kumho Group is having to sell assets in order to pay off debts; it currently has debts of $2.52 billion against assets of $3.3 billion.