Doublestar and its subsidiary Xingwei have paid KRW646.3bn (US$604.6m) to acquire a 45% majority shareholder stake in Kumho Tire. The Doublestar Group paid KRW5,000 (US$4.68) per share for 129,267,129 shares and the deal was signed with Kumho Tire and creditor Korea Development Bank (KDB).
The cross border merger had previously been blocked by political factors and other obstacles. Doublestar began negotiations with Kumho in 2016, which were later stopped by the THAAD missile crisis in South Korea. The company’s attempts to acquire Kumho had also been opposed by unions and politicians, and had come to a halt in September 2017.
Then after much back and forth, on March 2 of this year Doublestar reached an agreement with KDB, the head of Kumho Tire creditors, and following a vote, the majority of union members agreed to sell.
