Kim Hak-do, Chairman of Jungjin Gong, Visits Site to Overcome Crisis through Structural Improvement

Searching for Daesinjeogwa Factory, a Walnut Cookie Manufacturer

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Small and Medium Business Corporation (hereinafter referred to as SBC) announced that Chairman Kim Hak-do visited the site of Daesin Bakery located in Cheonan, Chungnam, on the 3rd as his first external schedule of the new year.

This visit was made to check the management improvement performance of companies supported by SBC's proactive voluntary restructuring program amid the ongoing deterioration of small and medium-sized enterprises' management and to listen to on-site difficulties.

Daesin Bakery, established in 1971, is a company specializing in the production of walnut cookies. Since its establishment, it achieved its highest sales in 2019 and continued to grow by supplying raw materials and manufacturing equipment to over 200 highway rest areas nationwide. However, due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of visitors to highway rest areas, its major sales channels, drastically decreased, and raw material prices surged due to global supply chain disruptions, resulting in operating losses and a management crisis.

SBC provided Daesin Bakery with new policy funds at a fixed interest rate of 2.5% through the proactive voluntary restructuring program and supported the preparation of a management improvement plan. Partner banks helped resolve liquidity issues and management difficulties by linking new loans with maturity extensions and interest rate reductions on existing loans.

The proactive voluntary restructuring program, which SBC has been operating in earnest since 2021, is a project that supports the normalization of management for companies with excellent products and technology but experiencing temporary management difficulties. Based on cooperation with banks, it provides joint financial support such as new loans, maturity extensions, and interest rate adjustments, as well as a package of support from restructuring diagnosis with accounting firms to the establishment of management improvement plans and follow-up management through implementation checks.

Chairman Kim said, "SBC has expanded the number of partner banks from five to nine to revitalize the proactive voluntary restructuring program, and the project budget increased from 38.1 billion won last year to 45 billion won this year," adding, "We will actively support the re-leap of crisis companies by promoting proactive restructuring for small and medium-sized enterprises vulnerable to changes in the economic environment in cooperation with the banking sector."