The Business Financial Newswire reports that Kumho Tire’s creditors have frozen the company’s debt repayment between December 30 and April 5 and have given their approval to a plan to place the company under a debt-workout programme. Under the workout programme, the due diligence process on the company before a final restructuring programme is agreed upon is expected to take about six-to-eight weeks.
The laser etching process that Kumho showed off at last September’s Frankfurt Motor Show has landed the South Korean manufacturer an iF Product Design Award. The accolade from Germany’s International Forum Design, first introduced in 1954, is awarded upon the merits of a product’s design, technology, degree of innovation and brand value potential. A total of 2,486 entries from 1,081 companies in 39 countries were submitted for the latest round of awards. The awards are divided into 16 categories, and Kumho’s victory in the 2010 awards took place in the ‘Advanced Studies’ category.
As many as a fifth of Kumho Asiana Group executives may face the axe as part of a restructuring arrangement, the Wall Street Journal reported on January 5, The paper added that remaining management could also see their salaries shrink by 20 per cent under the terms of such a deal. The company has already indicated its intention to raise more than KRW 1.3 trillion (£695 million) through the restructuring of its assets, including the Kumho Tire and Kumho Industrial business units. Following the publication of this news the value of Kumho Tire shares plunged 15 per cent, the maximum decrease permitted in a single day.
The Kumho Asiana group has reportedly agreed to restructure Kumho Tire along with its Kumho Industrial subsidiary following the failed sale of Daewoo Engineering & Construction to two private equity firms. Had Jabez Partners and TR America purchased the company for US$2.4billion, Kumho would have found it easier to meet a $3.4 billion payment in January, but raising funds for a purchase at between KRW 20,000 and 24,000 (£10.40 and £12.50) per share proved more difficult than anticipated.
Kumho Tire parent company the Kumho Asiana Group has donated three billion won (£1.58 million) to help needy South Koreans. On December 1 the CEO of Kumho Asiana’s Strategic Management Headquarters, Nam-Su Oh, visited the ‘Community Chest of Korea’ charity group in Seoul and made the donation. Following the donation, a Kumho Asiana spokesperson commented: “While we have been focused on corporate restructuring, we cannot neglect our contribution to needy neighbours. We decided to become the first [corporate] donor, considering our needy neighbours who have been suffered from a hard winter in this global financial crisis.”
Kumho Tire has given word of arrangements to supply truck tyres to Daimler AG in its home market. As of late November the Mercedes Benz Actros will be sold in South Korea with Kumho tyres as OE. Due to a confidentiality clause, however, the company has not revealed how many tyres will be delivered to Daimler as part of the arrangement.
Some say their employers want blood from them, and those at Kumho in South Korea may have grounds to make such a claim. But don’t worry – it’s all for a good cause. Due to the recent H1N1 influenza scare the country has experienced a dramatic drop in blood donations, and this has led to a noticeable shortage of the precious fluid needed for transfusions. According to Kumho, upon hearing this news, all Kumho Asiana Group executives and employees stepped forward to donate blood.
Industry veteran John Hagan has been named senior director of sales operations for Toyo Tire USA Corp.
Replacing Armand Allaire, who left Toyo for a similar post with Kumho Tire USA Inc., Hagan will be responsible for all of Toyo’s sales operations and will report directly to president and CEO Yasushi Takagi.
Hagan’s past experience serving as vice president of OE sales for Pirelli Tire North America, and as vice president of sales and marketing for companies in the chemical and import/export industries. (Tire Review)
Dave Taylor, vice president of technical services at Toyo Tire USA, has announced his retirement after 23 years with the company, reports Tire Review. Toyo said Taylor played a key role in the pioneering of niche sizes and products such as the Toyo Open Country M/T and Proxes S/T. Earlier this week, sales vice president Armand Allaire left Toyo to become Kumho Tire USA’s new national vice president of sales.
Industry veteran Armand Allaire has joined Kumho Tire USA as the national vice president of sales, reports Tire Review. Most recently Allaire was vice president of sales for Toyo Tire USA, and previously was a sales and marketing director for the then Bridgestone USA Inc. “Armand brings a unique blend of salesmanship and management experience to Kumho,” said JB Kim, Kumho's president and CEO, “we look forward to his guidance and vision as we build Kumho Tire for the future.”
According to Kumho, its prominent position in a ‘major hall’ at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show demonstrates the seriousness with which the Korean tyre maker takes its increasing role in the European motor industry.
Local NBC reports in Georgia, USA say that Kumho is to delay the building of its tyre manufacturing plant in the state’s Bibb County. Unnamed officials told the news source that the plant would still be built, but not until late 2013. The Chamber of Commerce told WMGT.com that low demand for autos and the poor economy had lead to the delay. The Chamber president Chip Cherry said that Kumho is still deliberating over what tyre types will be manufactured at the site, which projections suggest will bring 450 jobs and $225 million into the area.
2009 could be a breakthrough year for the Korean tyremakers. A collection of circumstances (some clearly the result of famed Far Eastern forward planning, and others distinctly more fortuitous), mean Kumho, Hankook and Nexen have found themselves poised to sell increasing numbers of replacement tyres in the UK and Europe. In addition, their successful efforts in the OE department – ironically helped along by the shaky macro-economic environment – mean this perfect storm of variables could leave the Korean manufacturers in an even stronger position when the dust settles. In the UK, a market where mid-range and economy tyres make up around 60 per cent of unit sales, official figures show that 4.7 million passenger car tyres of South Korean origin were imported last year. However, this cannot be the complete total because it only includes tyres imported from factories actually situated in South Korea. Owing to the fact that all three have significant manufacturing presences in China, and tyres often enter the market by “indirect routes,” it is likely the true total is a lot more.
Kumho Petrochemical intends to construct a facility for the production of rubber accelerator in southwest China. The company announced on September 23 that it will spend 44 billion won (£22.4 million) to build the plant by the first quarter of 2011. The Chongqing plant is expected to annually produce 22,000 tonnes of rubber accelerator, a substance used during the vulcanisation process.
Kumho has been exhibiting examples of its brand new laser etching process at the Frankfurt Motor Show (15-27 September). In the future Kumho plans to avoid compromising functionality and aesthetics, as every tyre maker has had to do up till now, by producing tyres in two stages. The idea is to produce functional requirement by moulding in the normal way. However, any additional attributes or design features will then be etched onto the surface as required, making an attractive design, without compromising on functionality.
Said Roger Jenkins, managing director of Kumho’s Birmingham-based European Technical Centre: “The new laser technology will allow us far more freedom at the design stage and the ability to experiment with any number of patterns and surface finishes. In the future, the process could also provide production tyres with a variety of short-term gains – such as special surfaces for use in motorsport or driving on low friction surfaces etc.”
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