Amid prolonged sales of South Korea‘s second-largest tiremaker Kumho Tire, Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo has further complicated the process by pitching new terms.

Kumho Industrial, the de facto holding company of Kumho Asiana Group, has officially approved Double Star, a Chinese state-run tiremaker and preferred bidder, to use the Kumho Tire trademark for 20 years and in return has suggested changes to the contract, the company said Friday. 

New terms regarding the usage of the Kumho Tire trademark are: a usage fee that equates 0.5 percent of sales, prohibition of cancelling the contract and exclusive use of the trademark.

“Kumho Tire’s overseas corporate bodies pay 1 percent of their sales for using the trademark. Rival companies also maintain a 0.4 percent usage fee for local affiliates and 1 percent for foreign branches,” said Kumho Industrial.

Kumho Tire’s nine creditors and Double Star had previously pitched a 0.2 percent usage fee for the trademark.

The latest change was made as state-run Korea Development Bank, a creditor of Kumho Tire that is leading the deal, had asked Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo to notify whether he will allow Double Star to use the Kumho Tire trademark by June 9.

Trademark usage has been a hurdle for creditors as Kumho Industrial, which holds 50 percent of the rights of the trademark, had not permitted the use.

Kumho Petrochemical, which holds the other 50 percent, has also granted usage.

Park has vowed to buy back the 42.01 percent stake of the world’s 14th-biggest tiremaker, which is the group’s second-biggest cash cow. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)