À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo by Hankook Technology Group Co.]
Hankook Technology Group Co. (formerly Hankook Tire Worldwide), the holding company of South Korea¡¯s top tire maker Hankook Tire & Technology, will merge with its battery-making subsidiary Hankook AtlasBX Co. to enhance future mobility and battery technology capability.
A plan to unite Hankook Technology and Hankook AtlasBX received a nod from the board of each company, the two companies announced Thursday.
The two companies plan to complete the merger by April 1 after the shareholders¡¯ meeting in January. One share of Hankook AtlasBX can be exchanged to 3.39 shares of Hankook Technology Group.
Hankook Technology Group shares closed Friday 4.42 percent higher at 16,550 won ($14.98) in Seoul, and Hankook AtlasBX 5.47 percent up at 57,800 won.
With the addition of the battery business, Hankook Technology Group hope to create synergy and seek for new growth opportunities at a time of paradigm shift in the automobile industry, the company said in its statement.
Following the merger, Hankook Technology will transform into a holding-operating structure to produce own goods and services to generate financial ammunitions to bolster the competitiveness of key businesses and lead investment in new growth engines.
¡°Hankook Technology Group will continue its quality and quantity investment to enhance the global competitiveness of tire business and make efforts to expand the investment portfolio to mobility and future technology for shareholders,¡± said a company official.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Cho Hyun-bum and Cho Hyun-sik
Currently, Hankook AtlasBX¡¯s storage battery business is faced with challenging conditions amid the ascending of eco-friendly vehicles, limitations of technology development and stricter regulations. Hankook Technology Group aims to facilitate its brand awareness, networking and M&A capacity to secure next-generation battery technologies, experts and clients and continue to make bold investment to help it transform into a smart energy solution company beyond a storage battery maker.
Separately, Hankook Technology Group announced on the same day that its president and COO Cho Hyun-bum, the second son of the group chairman Cho Yang-rai, was promoted to new CEO. He will head the holding company as co-CEO with his elder brother Hyun-sik.
By Park Yun-gu and Lee Ha-yeon
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