Simpson Thacher represented Kumho Tire Co., Inc. in connection with the initial public offering by Kumho Tire, which was the first ever concurrent dual-listing IPO in Korea and London. JP Morgan and Daishin Securities were the underwriters for the offering.
The offering of an aggregate of 20,690,000 shares of common stock in the form of 41,380,000 Global depositary shares raised US$295.1 million, including an optional offering of 2,000,000 shares of common stock in the form of 4,000,000 Global depositary shares worth US$28.5 million, and was part of US$392.1 million global offering of an aggregate of 27,490,000 shares of common stock which included a public offering of 6,800,000 shares of common stock in Korea. As part of the IPO, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, 8th largest tire manufacturer in the world, acquired 7,500,000, or approximately 11%, of Kumho Tire’s common stock as a strategic investor. Simpson Thacher also represented Kumho Tire in this strategic placement.
In a first concurrent, dual-listed initial public offering in both the Korean and the London markets, the shares of Kumho Tire were listed and traded as Global depositary shares beginning on February 16, 2004 (London time) and they were listed and traded as common stock on the Stock Market Division of the Korea Exchange on February 17, 2004 (Seoul time). Simpson Thacher became the only law firm that closed the two concurrent dual-listing IPOs by Korean Companies - Kumho Tire (Korea Exchange and London Stock Exchange) and LG.Philips LCD (Korea Exchange and New York Stock Exchange).
Kumho Tire is one of the two largest tire manufacturers in Korea and is ranked as the 11th largest tire manufacturer in the world. Kumho Tire sells its products in approximately 150 countries through its global distribution network of over 1,200 distributors.
The Simpson Thacher team who worked on the offering included Youngjin Sohn, Kristina Kang and Changsu Oh in the Hong Kong office, and Paul B. Ford, Jeff Mensch (tax), Jack D'Angelo (Hart-Scott-Rodino) and Ken Ehrhard (Hart-Scott-Rodino) in the New York office.