Doublestar prepares to formally take control of Kumho

At the end of March, tyre manufacturer Qingdao Doublestar suspended trading on the stock exchange and announced that it was preparing to officially take control of Kumho and resolve competition in the industry. Doublestar said it will disclose further information before April 11.

Specifically, Doublestar plans to obtain all property shares of Xingtou Fund and 0.0285 per cent equity of Xingwei International through the issuance of shares and payment of cash. Xingtou Fund currently holds 99.9715 per cent of Xingwei International. In other words, after the acquisition is completed, Doublestar will have 100 per cent of the shares of Xingwei International. Xingwei International holds 45 per cent of Kumho’s shares through Xingwei Korea Company Limited.

In 2018, Doublestar Group, the parent company of Qingdao Doublestar, acquired 45 per cent of Kumho and became the controlling shareholder of the Korean tyre manufacturer. At that time, the funds for the acquisition of Kumho did not come from tyre manufacturer Qingdao Doublestar but were jointly funded by “Doublestar Group and others”.

According to the company’s financial results published at the end of 2023, tyre manufacturer Qingdao Doublestar was still in the red in 2023.