[비즈한국] As AP Holdings acquires a stake in Air Premia, attention is focusing on the family of Tire Bank Chairman Kim Jung-kyu. AP Holdings is 100% owned by the family of Chairman Kim Jung-kyu (60). According to audit reports, as of the end of last year, Chairman Kim held a 20% stake in AP Holdings, while his children—Kim Seung-yeon (24), Kim Sung-yeon (22), and Kim Soo-yeon (19)—divided the remaining 80% among themselves.
AP Holdings was established with a book value capital of 1 billion won. Its cash and cash equivalents were only about 1.6 billion won at the end of 2023 and remained at the 1 billion won level at the end of 2024. AP Holdings is a corporate entity established for the investment in Air Premia and does not engage in separate business activities. It recorded no revenue last year and reported an operating loss of 33.62 million won. Despite its small scale and lack of specific business operations, AP Holdings plans to spend 120 billion won to acquire a 22% stake in Air Premia.
The primary source of funding for AP Holdings is Tire Bank. According to audit reports, AP Holdings had borrowed a total of 68 billion won from Tire Bank as of the end of last year. Tire Bank also acquired 31.9 billion won worth of convertible bonds issued by AP Holdings. In effect, AP Holdings has raised nearly 100 billion won from Tire Bank.
AP Holdings also borrowed 5.7 billion won from a company called 'Sungkong-eul-mandeuneun' (Creating Success). This company is owned by Chairman Kim Jung-kyu's children—Kim Seung-yeon, Kim Sung-yeon, and Kim Soo-yeon—each holding a 33.33% stake. Its main businesses are plastic manufacturing/sales and real estate leasing/trading. Last year, it recorded 83.9 billion won in revenue and 10.1 billion won in operating profit.
Sungkong-eul-mandeuneun also received help from Tire Bank in its early stages. Since its establishment in 2017, it has borrowed significant funds from Tire Bank, reaching 82.4 billion won as of the end of last year. Powered by Tire Bank's support, the company has grown to the point where it is now in a position to lend funds to AP Holdings.
Chairman Kim Jung-kyu's family also established a company named 'Sungkong' (Success) in 2017. Like the previous company, Kim Seung-yeon, Kim Sung-yeon, and Kim Soo-yeon each hold a 33.33% stake. Its main business is real estate leasing and trading. The amount that Sungkong has borrowed from Tire Bank reached 12.6 billion won as of the end of last year. However, compared to Sungkong-eul-mandeuneun, its revenue scale is not large; last year, it recorded 2.2 billion won in revenue and an operating loss of 400 million won.
As such, companies owned by Chairman Kim Jung-kyu's children have grown with support from Tire Bank. In particular, as AP Holdings and Sungkong-eul-mandeuneun have grown into sizable companies, their corporate value is expected to have increased significantly compared to the past. If the chairman's children sell their stakes in these two companies, they could potentially use the proceeds to pay for gift or inheritance taxes when they eventually inherit shares of Tire Bank.
AP Holdings plans to acquire an additional 22% stake in Air Premia for approximately 120 billion won by this September. However, given its current financial situation, it is unlikely that borrowing 120 billion won from the financial sector will be easy. For this reason, it is anticipated that AP Holdings will once again rely on support from Tire Bank. Continuous support for the chairman's children's companies at the Tire Bank level, rather than by Chairman Kim personally, is subject to criticism.
Bizhankook contacted Tire Bank to hear their stance on this matter, but did not receive a response.