M&A Hunting
Hankook Tire announced on September 2 at its Press Day 2013 event that it will supply its products to Mercedes Benz for the New S-class and increase its shipment for the BMW 5 Series. The manufacturer has supplied tires to Audi since 2006 and to BMW since 2011, becoming the first Korean tire company in a business partnership with all of three premium German automakers.
Hankook Tire is currently running seven manufacturing facilities in Korea, China, Hungary, and Indonesia. It is planning to finish preparations for the construction of a new plant in the United States before the end of this year to better penetrate the North American market. “We’re mulling over building a new factory in Tennessee, South Carolina, or Georgia,” said Hankook Tire Worldwide president Jo Hyeon-shik, adding, “The plan will be finalized late this year, and the new plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 10 million units.”
At the same time, the company is launching new business through aggressive M&A with the conversion to a holding company being scheduled to be wrapped up by the last quarter of this year. Hankook Tire spun off Hankook Tire Worldwide in September last year as a holding company conversion.
“We’re continuously seeking for M&A targets in those fields associated with tire manufacturing,” the president continued, adding, “The price of such targets will be approximately 100 billion won each, though we’ve made a couple of failed attempts.”