Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo is putting his final efforts to rebuild his empire after regaining control of Kumho Industrial Co. last year and merging Kumho Terminal and Kumho & Co. this month.

According to the group on Sunday, Chairman Park visited Kumho Tire Co.’s manufacturing plant in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province last Thursday for the first time in one year and eight months to encourage workers and meet representatives of its labor union. The last visit was made in December 2014 when workers strike was in a full swing.

The business circles believe that the move is Park’s latest efforts to complete the group’s reconstruction by reacquiring Kumho Tire that was handed over to creditor banks such as Woori Bank, Korea Development Bank and KB Kookmin Bank when it entered a workout program in December 2009. Park already succeeded in buying back Kumho Industrial from creditors last year and merging Kumho Terminal and Kumho & Co. this month.

A source from the business circles said that after ending the seven-year-long sibling conflict with his younger brother and Kumho Petrochemical Co.’s Chairman Park Chan-koo, Chairman Park Sam-koo now seems to focus solely on regaining control of the group by increasing personal contacts with employees to build trust with them prior to taking over Kumho Tire. The labor union is reportedly responding positively to Park’s efforts for now.

On Sunday, Park’s eldest son and president of Kumho Asiana Group Park Se-chang in charge of the group’s strategic management was also appointed as a registered board member of Kumho & Company Inc., a holding company of the group that was inaugurated on August 12 upon the merger between Kumho Terminal and Kumho & Co. The move is seen as an effort to solidify the group’s management succession to the third generation of the owner.

The creditors that own a combined 42.01 percent stake in Kumho Tire are expected to put the stakes up for sale. Chairman Park can exercise the right of first refusal, which allows the holder the priority to repurchase management control under the same terms with any highest bidder. Chairman Park was given the right from creditors in May 2010, but on condition that the right does not pass on to others. This means that Park who succeeded in regaining control of Kumho Industrial on support from other Kumho Asiana Group units and a number of so-called white knights by transferring the right would not be able to expect similar support this time.

This has led some industry watchers believe that Park lacking enough fund to buy back the tire maker after spending 722.8 billion won to take over Kumho Industrial last year would give up the right and join the bid with funds he would scrape together from a variety of sources.

Maeil Business Newspaper also found on Sunday that the creditors of Kumho Tire would not allow Chairman Park’s brother Chan-koo’s participation in the bid. According to the company rules, former head of Kumho Tire is prohibited from joining the sale’s bid of the company. The creditors reportedly argue that Kumho Petrochemical and its chairman Chan-koo should not participate in the bid because the company was the largest shareholder with 47.3 percent stake in the tire company before it entered the workout program.

By Kim Jung-hwan and Kim Hyo-hye

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]