Chairman Cho Yang-rai has sold his 23.59 per cent stake in Hankook Technology Group Co Ltd to his son Cho Hyun-bum. The sale makes the chief executive the largest shareholder of the parent company of South Korea’s largest tyre manufacturer, with around 42.9 per cent.
Michelin and Continental stocks are rising, despite the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic and governmental lockdowns on demand. US investment bank Goldman Sachs today raised the target price of shares in the two manufacturers, rating Michelin as ‘Buy’ and Continental as ‘Neutral’. In his two research notes, Goldman analyst George Galliers increased Michelin stocks’ target price from 91 euros to 113 euros, and Conti’s from 75 euros to 92 euros.
Fintyre, the large but troubled European tyre distribution enterprise, has confirmed that it is talking to “potential new investors” in a statement designed to clarify its ongoing position “given the events that have taken place in the last few months”.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company refinancing itself with $600 million of 5-year senior notes. According to the company, the notes will be senior unsecured obligations of the company. Goodyear intends to use the net proceeds for “general corporate purposes…
In the first quarter of 2020 Toyo Tire Corporation reported net sales of 82,094 million yen a decrease of 8,049 million yen (-9.8 per cent) compared with the first quarter of 2019. Its operating income for the quarter was 6,936 million compared to 10,174 million yen (-31.87%) in the first quarter of 2019.
Hankook Tire won’t be able to call its holding firm “Hankook Technology Group” after a court decided that Hankook Tire used the name for “unfair purposes.” As a result, Hankook Technology Group will no-longer be able to use that name on the Kospi share index either.
Financial analysts from Jefferies described Continental AG’s plan for fiscal improvements during the corona-crisis “encouraging”, according to an analyst report published 15 May 2020. That Conti’s management highlighted “positive data points in China and the European replacement tyre market”, would seem to be positive indications for the whole tyre business. Specifically, replacement tyre demand was described as “strong” in Germany. However, R&D budgets are likely to be cut and there was even the suggestion that European tyre factory numbers could also be cut back.
Despite intense pressures facing the wider tyre industry, on 8 May 2020 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company maintained a long unbroken streak of quarterly dividends, when it declared a dividend of 10.5 cents per share on common stock, payable 26 June 2020 to stockholders of record at the close of business 1 June 2020. This is the 193rd consecutive quarterly dividend paid by Cooper Tire & Rubber Company.
On 1 May Continental AG said it will delay spin-off of its powertrain business Vitesco Technologies. Rather than executing that plan in July, as had been planned, the automotive supplier said it will pursue the listing of its powertrain subsidiary business when market conditions improve.
Warburg Pincus is now a shareholder in Apollo Tyres Ltd. During a meeting yesterday, the tyre maker’s Committee of Directors – Private Placement allocated Emerald Sage Investment Ltd., an affiliate of the private equity firm, 54,000,000 compulsorily convertible preference shares. Emerald Sage paid a total of Rs s. 5,400,000,000 (£57.56 million) for the shares in this first tranche transaction, or Rs 100 each.
At a meeting held on Friday, Apollo Tyres Ltd.’s Board of Directors approved the issue of Rs 10 billion (£105 million) worth of non-convertible debentures (NCBs) via a private placement. The NCBs will be issued in one or more tranches according to the limits approved by shareholders at the tyre maker’s Annual General Meeting on 31 July 2019.
On 1 April 2020 Camfin SpA, a key shareholder in Pirelli which shares the Italian tyre manufacturer’s close connections with Marco Tronchetti Provera, announced that Camfin and Longmarch Sàrl had signed “a preliminary and non-binding Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] to evaluate a possible strategic partnership, aimed at developing activities in private equity, including the healthcare sector. However, while Camfin is and investment company and Longmarch is a separate Luxembourg-based vehicle, the two firms are related to Pirelli and the Chinese Hixih Rubber Group respectively. And therefore, the latest news could also indicate that Pirelli and Hixih are moving closer together.
In measures aimed at enhancing “shareholder-friendly management”, Hankook Tire intends to buy back around KRW 50 billion (£34 million) of its shares over the coming six months and will also “sharply expand” the size of its dividends. In addition, the tyre maker will form a support group for external directors and implement an electronic voting system.
According to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchanges Commission in the USA, investment management firm BlackRock Inc. has increased its shareholding in Titan International from 12.94 per cent to 14.0 per cent. The Schedule 13G form states that BlackRock now owns 8,428,280 shares in Titan International, an increase of 8.16 per cent over the shareholding it previously reported.
On 23 January 2020, Pirelli & C. S.p.A. received a notification letter from its largest shareholder, China National Chemical Corporation Ltd. (ChemChina), informing the firm that it is undergoing “strategic restructuring”. The restructuring notice covered both ChemChina and Sinochem Group Co., Ltd.
Hankook
Google
Toyo
Hankook Technology; Hankook Technology Group
Continental AG