Chairman Park Sam-koo of Kumho-Asiana Group

Chairman Part Sam-koo of Kumho-Asiana Group said he will lead Kumho Tire to be one of the top global tire makers in the world.

He made the statement at the group’s Kumho-Asiana Talented Personnel Training Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Jan. 8, where the 2016 First-Half Executives Management Strategy Seminar took place. Some 150 key executives were in attendence.

The chairman Kumho-Asiana needs is a clear goal it to overcome various difficulties that lie ahead this year, such as the global economic situation which was jolted by a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Park said the tire maker will regain its global competitive edge when a new tire plant being built in Macon, Georgia, is complete; and when the relocation of its tire plant in Nanjin, China, is finalized this year. 

The new plant in Macon, Georgia is expected to be completed in the first quarter. It will have a capacity to turn out 4 million tires, mostly for cars. Officials of the tire maker said the chairman has been taking care of major issues since last year to help the company get over its tough times. At the 2015 Executives Management Strategy Seminar last July, he blasted the tire maker’s top management for the company’s recent rough patch. He had warned that the tire maker should be able to normalize its operation by generating profit and regaining its trust in the market in 2016.

He said Kumho-Asiana has been falling behind in generating profits since 2010, failing to recover the public’s trust. This year, the group has to achieve its targeted profit level with each affiliate of the group doing its best to generate profit in their operations to regain public trust. He warned that those business sectors that are unable to generate profit will be closed down. The officials of the group said 2016 is a significant year for the group, as it will be the first year since retaking the control of Kumho Industry, the holding company of the group and the group will celebrate its 70th year of anniversary.

Most of the key executives present at the seminar felt they should recover the spirit that went into establishing the group and use that to give the group a “second wind” this year in putting the group back on track.

Kumho Tire is a high performance tire company that brings quality and innovative technology to consumers worldwide. With over 50 years of experience, Kumho Tire has transformed from its humble beginning in South Korea into becoming the 9th largest tire manufacturer in the world. Kumho Tire USA is dedicated to ensuring the safety and performance of its products, the company said.

Kumho Asiana Group, founded in 1946 by his late father Park In-chon, sprawled businesses from airline to construction, and advanced into one of the country’s top 10 business groups in early 2000s. But Kumho Industrial’s acquisition sprees, including Daewoo Engineering & Construction and Korea Express, forced the group into liquidity problems following the global financial crisis in 2009.

Experts said the last challenge that Park faces is securing enough cash to pay 723 billion won for the buyout by the end of the year.

Park and his son Se-chang hold 5.04 percent and 4.86 percent stake in Kumho Industrial, respectively, worth some 69 billion won in market value.

His recent purchase of the entire stake in Kumho Buslines for 415 billion won in May also led to doubts whether he can fund the multibillion-won deal.

“There won’t be a problem to finance the takeover as Park has been contacting financial investors on the matter for a long time,” a Kumho Asiana Group official said.

Kumho Tire, which graduated from a creditor-managed workout program in 2014, is another affiliate that Park has been eyeing to buy back again to reclaim control of the group.

Currently, the Korea Development Bank and other creditors hold a 42.1 percent stake in the Korea’s second-largest tire maker and plan to hold an open bid to sell it next year.

A view of an A380 new jumbo jet that Asiana Airlines has   put into service in 2015. The airlines plans to put more of them in service to fly its important air routes in the near future.(Photos:Asiana Airlines)