Misplaced Pages

Tongyang Group

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

The Tongyang Group , also spelled Tong Yang Group , is a South Korean conglomerate founded in 1957 by Lee Yang-gu, a confectionery businessman who had decided to expand into the cement industry. Over the following decades it expanded to include holdings as diverse as financial services companies and a basketball team. As of September 2013, it was the country's 38th-largest conglomerate, but that month it defaulted on its debt due to cash flow issues, and looked to sell off key subsidiaries to raise funds. In January 2014, group chairman Hyun Jae-hyun and three other senior executives were arrested on charges including fraud and malpractice in issuance and sales of financial products.

#928071

127-461: The Tongyang Group was founded in 1957 as a cement manufacturer by Lee Yang-gu. Lee had previously used the Tongyang name in his Tongyang Confectionery Manufacturing Company, which he started after coming from his native South Hamgyong Province (in what is today North Korea ) to Seoul in 1947. His commercial success led to his being dubbed the "Sugar King", and he used his own capital to take over

254-554: A chemical reaction between the dry ingredients and water. The chemical reaction results in mineral hydrates that are not very water-soluble. This allows setting in wet conditions or under water and further protects the hardened material from chemical attack. The chemical process for hydraulic cement was found by ancient Romans who used volcanic ash ( pozzolana ) with added lime (calcium oxide). Non-hydraulic cement (less common) does not set in wet conditions or under water. Rather, it sets as it dries and reacts with carbon dioxide in

381-558: A mortar made of sand and roughly burnt gypsum (CaSO 4 · 2H 2 O), which is plaster of Paris, which often contained calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ), Lime (calcium oxide) was used on Crete and by the Ancient Greeks . There is evidence that the Minoans of Crete used crushed potsherds as an artificial pozzolan for hydraulic cement. Nobody knows who first discovered that a combination of hydrated non-hydraulic lime and

508-529: A ripple effect through the financial system and the economy (as well as any connected economies) as a whole. The foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN countries believed that the well co-ordinated manipulation of their currencies was a deliberate attempt to destabilize the ASEAN economies . Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused George Soros and other currency traders of ruining Malaysia's economy with currency speculation . Soros claims to have been

635-735: A suicide note describing her guilt and regret for her sales recommendations to her customers. An investigation by the Financial Supervisory Service found evidence of fraud by Tongyang Securities, amidst accusations by individual investors that Tongyang Securities had sold them bonds of Tongyang Group companies without properly informing them of the risks. The FSS report found that Hyun had "compelled" Tongyang Securities to sell those bonds, while Tongyang Securities CEO Jung Jin-seok had lied to employees about Tongyang's financial condition in an effort to encourage them to sell more Tongyang bonds. More than 800 affected customers filed

762-626: A boom in the mid-1970s. Hyun Jae-hyun, the husband of Lee Yang-gu's eldest daughter Lee Hae-kyung, abandoned his previous career as a prosecutor to join Tongyang Cement in 1977, and oversaw the Tongyang Group's expansion from cement into a wide variety of other fields, particularly in financial services in the 1980s. He was promoted to group chairman in 1989. By 2009, financial services subsidiaries such as Tongyang Life Insurance and Tongyang Securities contributed more than seven-tenths of

889-485: A buyer of the ringgit during its fall, having sold it short in 1997. At the 30th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held in Subang Jaya , Malaysia , the foreign ministers issued a joint declaration on 25 July 1997 expressing serious concern and called for further intensification of ASEAN's cooperation to safeguard and promote ASEAN's interest in this regard. Coincidentally, on that same day, the central bankers of most of

1016-474: A cement factory in Samcheok , Gangwon Province ; its owners at the time were eager to sell due to frequent labour disputes and the poor state of the physical plant. That factory had started operations in 1942 under the ownership of Onoda Cement (now Taiheiyo Cement ) during Japanese colonial rule over Korea . Lee searched out former Onoda engineers in order to rehire them, in particular Oh Pyong-ho, "supposedly

1143-483: A class-action lawsuit against the Tongyang Group and South Korean regulators in January 2014, seeking restitution of their losses. In July 2014, Yuanta Securities of Taiwan bought out 53.61% of Tongyang Securities from Tongyang International and Leisure. Yuanta appointed Hwang Wei-cherng as a new co-CEO alongside then-current CEO Suh Myung-suk, and indicated that Tongyang Securities would rename itself and begin using

1270-432: A controlled bond with masonry blocks. Expansive cements contain, in addition to Portland clinker, expansive clinkers (usually sulfoaluminate clinkers), and are designed to offset the effects of drying shrinkage normally encountered in hydraulic cements. This cement can make concrete for floor slabs (up to 60 m square) without contraction joints. 1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis

1397-432: A fine powder. This product, made into a mortar with sand, set in 5–15 minutes. The success of "Roman cement" led other manufacturers to develop rival products by burning artificial hydraulic lime cements of clay and chalk . Roman cement quickly became popular but was largely replaced by Portland cement in the 1850s. Apparently unaware of Smeaton's work, the same principle was identified by Frenchman Louis Vicat in

SECTION 10

#1732771982929

1524-432: A form of hydraulic cement, is by far the most common type of cement in general use around the world. This cement is made by heating limestone (calcium carbonate) with other materials (such as clay ) to 1,450 °C (2,640 °F) in a kiln , in a process known as calcination that liberates a molecule of carbon dioxide from the calcium carbonate to form calcium oxide , or quicklime, which then chemically combines with

1651-579: A further decline in South Korean shares since stock markets were already bearish in November. The Seoul stock exchange fell by 4% on 7 November 1997. On 8 November, it plunged by 7%, its biggest one-day drop to that date. And on 24 November, stocks fell a further 7.2% on fears that the IMF would demand tough reforms. In 1998, Hyundai Motor Company took over Kia Motors. Samsung Motors ' $ 5 billion venture

1778-504: A general loss of demand and confidence throughout the region. Although most of the governments of Asia had seemingly sound fiscal policies , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in to initiate a $ 40 billion program to stabilize the currencies of South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, economies particularly hard hit by the crisis. However, the efforts to stem a global economic crisis did little to stabilize

1905-508: A greater devaluation? This is a relevant tradeoff, but there can be no question that the degree of devaluation in the Asian countries is excessive, both from the viewpoint of the individual countries, and from the viewpoint of the international system. Looking first to the individual country, companies with substantial foreign currency debts, as so many companies in these countries have, stood to suffer far more from… currency (depreciation) than from

2032-678: A half-century. Technologies of waste cementation have been developed and deployed at industrial scale in many countries. Cementitious wasteforms require a careful selection and design process adapted to each specific type of waste to satisfy the strict waste acceptance criteria for long-term storage and disposal. Modern development of hydraulic cement began with the start of the Industrial Revolution (around 1800), driven by three main needs: Modern cements are often Portland cement or Portland cement blends, but other cement blends are used in some industrial settings. Portland cement,

2159-425: A high rate of return . As a result, the region's economies received a large inflow of money and experienced a dramatic run-up in asset prices. At the same time, the regional economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea experienced high growth rates, of 8–12% GDP, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This achievement was widely acclaimed by financial institutions including IMF and World Bank , and

2286-511: A highly leveraged economic climate, and pushed up asset prices to an unsustainable level, particularly those in non-productive sectors of the economy such as real-estate. These asset prices eventually began to collapse, causing individuals and companies to default on debt obligations. The resulting panic among lenders led to a large withdrawal of credit from the crisis countries, causing a credit crunch and further bankruptcies. In addition, as foreign investors attempted to withdraw their money,

2413-407: A large number of Indonesian corporations had been borrowing in U.S. dollars. This practice had worked well for these corporations during the preceding years, as the rupiah had strengthened respective to the dollar; their effective levels of debt and financing costs had decreased as the local currency's value rose. In July 1997, when Thailand floated the baht, Indonesia's monetary authorities widened

2540-462: A largely uncontrolled manner to certain people only – not necessarily the best suited or most efficient, but those closest to the centers of power. Weak corporate governance also led to inefficient investment and declining profitability. Until 1999, Asia attracted almost half of the total capital inflow into developing countries . The economies of Southeast Asia in particular maintained high interest rates attractive to foreign investors looking for

2667-787: A market for use in concrete. The use of concrete in construction grew rapidly from 1850 onward, and was soon the dominant use for cements. Thus Portland cement began its predominant role. Isaac Charles Johnson further refined the production of meso-Portland cement (middle stage of development) and claimed he was the real father of Portland cement. Setting time and "early strength" are important characteristics of cements. Hydraulic limes, "natural" cements, and "artificial" cements all rely on their belite (2 CaO · SiO 2 , abbreviated as C 2 S) content for strength development. Belite develops strength slowly. Because they were burned at temperatures below 1,250 °C (2,280 °F), they contained no alite (3 CaO · SiO 2 , abbreviated as C 3 S), which

SECTION 20

#1732771982929

2794-590: A minority stake in Tongyang Power, with the aim of raising funds so they could carry through with the construction of the Samcheok plant. However, by late September 2013, group officials expressed their willingness to sell the entire company; one stated, "Survival of the group comes first over everything else. We will give up anything to save the group." In June 2014, POSCO Energy 's board of directors voted to acquire all outstanding shares of Tongyang Power in

2921-413: A month for Rosendale cement made it unpopular for constructing highways and bridges, and many states and construction firms turned to Portland cement. Because of the switch to Portland cement, by the end of the 1920s only one of the 15 Rosendale cement companies had survived. But in the early 1930s, builders discovered that, while Portland cement set faster, it was not as durable, especially for highways—to

3048-695: A pozzolan produces a hydraulic mixture (see also: Pozzolanic reaction ), but such concrete was used by the Greeks, specifically the Ancient Macedonians , and three centuries later on a large scale by Roman engineers . There is... a kind of powder which from natural causes produces astonishing results. It is found in the neighborhood of Baiae and in the country belonging to the towns round about Mount Vesuvius . This substance when mixed with lime and rubble not only lends strength to buildings of other kinds but even when piers of it are constructed in

3175-473: A result of the crisis. Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, income in the northeast, the poorest part of the country, rose by 46 percent from 1998 to 2006. Nationwide poverty fell from 21.3 to 11.3 percent. Thailand's Gini coefficient , a measure of income inequality , fell from .525 in 2000 to .499 in 2004 (it had risen from 1996 to 2000) versus 1997 Asian financial crisis. By 2001, Thailand's economy had recovered. The increasing tax revenues allowed

3302-556: A result of the crisis. In May 1997, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas , the country's central bank, raised interest rates by 1.75 percentage points and again by 2 points on 19 June. Thailand triggered the crisis on 2 July and on 3 July, the Bangko Sentral intervened to defend the peso , raising the overnight rate from 15% to 32% at the onset of the Asian crisis in mid-July 1997. The peso dropped from 26 pesos per dollar at

3429-483: A series of bailouts ("rescue packages") for the most-affected economies to enable them to avoid default , tying the packages to currency, banking and financial system reforms. Due to IMF's involvement in the financial crisis, the term IMF Crisis became a way to refer to the Asian Financial Crisis in countries that were affected. The IMF's support was conditional on a series of economic reforms,

3556-492: A successful bid to build and operate a two million kilowatt, ₩10 trillion powerplant in Samcheok , Gangwon Province , proposing to use an abandoned mine owned by Tongyang Cement. Even before the bid was officially accepted, on news that Tongyang Power was likely to win, shares in Tongyang Inc. rose to the upper trading halt limit of 15%. During Tongyang Group's late 2013 crisis, the group had initially planned to sell only

3683-494: A temporary rise in domestic interest rates…. Thus, on macroeconomics… monetary policy has to be kept tight to restore confidence in the currency.... From the then IMF managing director Michel Camdessus : To reverse (currency depreciation), countries have to make it more attractive to hold domestic currency, and that means temporarily raising interest rates, even if this (hurts) weak banks and corporations. From 1985 to 1996, Thailand's economy grew at an average of over 9% per year,

3810-741: A very advanced civilisation in El Tajin near Mexico City, in Mexico. A detailed study of the composition of the aggregate and binder show that the aggregate was pumice and the binder was a pozzolanic cement made with volcanic ash and lime. Any preservation of this knowledge in literature from the Middle Ages is unknown, but medieval masons and some military engineers actively used hydraulic cement in structures such as canals , fortresses, harbors , and shipbuilding facilities . A mixture of lime mortar and aggregate with brick or stone facing material

3937-483: A ₩431.1 billion deal. Tongyang Securities ( 동양증권 ; KRX : 003470 ) is a brokerage and financial services company. It was known as Ilguk Securities until 1984, when the Tongyang Group purchased it and renamed it to its present name. Within five years it had become one of the top ten securities companies in the country. Among its subsidiaries is Tong Yang Bank (formerly Orion Bank), a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas -licensed retail bank founded in 1997, whose primary market

Tongyang Group - Misplaced Pages Continue

4064-579: Is South Korean expatriates in the Philippines . Tongyang Securities has overseas representative offices in Beijing , Ho Chi Minh City , Hong Kong , New York City , Phnom Penh , and Tokyo . In the aftermath of Tongyang Group's default in September 2013, Tongyang Securities faced massive fund withdrawals, causing its deposits to decline by 40% over a period of about two months to ₩2.3 trillion. By

4191-422: Is hydraulic cement , which hardens by hydration of the clinker minerals when water is added. Hydraulic cements (such as Portland cement) are made of a mixture of silicates and oxides, the four main mineral phases of the clinker, abbreviated in the cement chemist notation , being: The silicates are responsible for the cement's mechanical properties — the tricalcium aluminate and brownmillerite are essential for

4318-512: Is pozzolanic , so that ultimate strength is maintained. Because fly ash addition allows a lower concrete water content, early strength can also be maintained. Where good quality cheap fly ash is available, this can be an economic alternative to ordinary Portland cement. Portland pozzolan cement includes fly ash cement, since fly ash is a pozzolan , but also includes cements made from other natural or artificial pozzolans. In countries where volcanic ashes are available (e.g., Italy, Chile, Mexico,

4445-520: Is a major emitter of global carbon dioxide emissions . The lime reacts with silicon dioxide to produce dicalcium silicate and tricalcium silicate. The lime also reacts with aluminium oxide to form tricalcium aluminate. In the last step, calcium oxide, aluminium oxide, and ferric oxide react together to form brownmillerite. A less common form of cement is non-hydraulic cement , such as slaked lime ( calcium oxide mixed with water), which hardens by carbonation in contact with carbon dioxide , which

4572-573: Is about 4.4 billion tonnes per year (2021, estimation), of which about half is made in China, followed by India and Vietnam. The cement production process is responsible for nearly 8% (2018) of global CO 2 emissions, which includes heating raw materials in a cement kiln by fuel combustion and release of CO 2 stored in the calcium carbonate (calcination process). Its hydrated products, such as concrete, gradually reabsorb atmospheric CO 2 (carbonation process), compensating for approximately 30% of

4699-417: Is completely evaporated (this process is technically called setting ), the carbonation starts: This reaction is slow, because the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the air is low (~ 0.4 millibar). The carbonation reaction requires that the dry cement be exposed to air, so the slaked lime is a non-hydraulic cement and cannot be used under water. This process is called the lime cycle . Perhaps

4826-566: Is constantly fed into a rotary kiln, it allowed a continuous manufacturing process to replace lower capacity batch production processes. Calcium aluminate cements were patented in 1908 in France by Jules Bied for better resistance to sulfates. Also in 1908, Thomas Edison experimented with pre-cast concrete in houses in Union, N.J. In the US, after World War One, the long curing time of at least

4953-677: Is described as the de facto holding company of the Tongyang Group. Tongyang Cement & Energy ( 동양시멘트 ; KRX : 038500 ) went into court receivership on 1 October 2013, and the Korea Exchange suspended trading of its shares. In September 2015, Sampyo Group and a Korea Development Bank private equity fund acquired a 55% stake in the company for ₩794 billion, and renamed it Sampyo Cement in April 2017. Tongyang Networks ( 동양네트웍스 ; KRX : 030790 ) went into court receivership on 1 October 2013. Observers were surprised, as Tongyang Networks

5080-674: Is more usually added to Portland cement at the concrete mixer. Masonry cements are used for preparing bricklaying mortars and stuccos , and must not be used in concrete. They are usually complex proprietary formulations containing Portland clinker and a number of other ingredients that may include limestone, hydrated lime, air entrainers, retarders, waterproofers, and coloring agents. They are formulated to yield workable mortars that allow rapid and consistent masonry work. Subtle variations of masonry cement in North America are plastic cements and stucco cements. These are designed to produce

5207-403: Is present in the air (~ 412 vol. ppm ≃ 0.04 vol. %). First calcium oxide (lime) is produced from calcium carbonate ( limestone or chalk ) by calcination at temperatures above 825 °C (1,517 °F) for about 10 hours at atmospheric pressure : The calcium oxide is then spent (slaked) by mixing it with water to make slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide ): Once the excess water

Tongyang Group - Misplaced Pages Continue

5334-483: Is responsible for early strength in modern cements. The first cement to consistently contain alite was made by William Aspdin in the early 1840s: This was what we call today "modern" Portland cement. Because of the air of mystery with which William Aspdin surrounded his product, others ( e.g., Vicat and Johnson) have claimed precedence in this invention, but recent analysis of both his concrete and raw cement have shown that William Aspdin's product made at Northfleet , Kent

5461-474: Is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water as the planet's most-consumed resource. Cements used in construction are usually inorganic , often lime - or calcium silicate -based, and are either hydraulic or less commonly non-hydraulic , depending on the ability of the cement to set in the presence of water (see hydraulic and non-hydraulic lime plaster ). Hydraulic cements (e.g., Portland cement ) set and become adhesive through

5588-438: Is to make concrete. Portland cement may be grey or white . Portland cement blends are often available as inter-ground mixtures from cement producers, but similar formulations are often also mixed from the ground components at the concrete mixing plant. Portland blast-furnace slag cement , or blast furnace cement (ASTM C595 and EN 197-1 nomenclature respectively), contains up to 95% ground granulated blast furnace slag , with

5715-417: The 1997 Asian financial crisis . Tong Yang Major acquired Hanil Synthetic Fiber in 2007. The acquisition resulted in an investigation to determine whether the ₩374.5 billion acquisition had violated laws against leveraged buyouts . Tong Yang Major had created a special purpose vehicle which issued debt to finance the acquisition of Hanil, and then used Hanil's cash reserves to repay much of the debt. However,

5842-478: The Isle of Portland , Dorset, England. However, Aspdins' cement was nothing like modern Portland cement but was a first step in its development, called a proto-Portland cement . Joseph Aspdins' son William Aspdin had left his father's company and in his cement manufacturing apparently accidentally produced calcium silicates in the 1840s, a middle step in the development of Portland cement. William Aspdin's innovation

5969-527: The Jakarta Stock Exchange touched a historic low in September. Moody's eventually downgraded Indonesia's long-term debt to " junk bond ". Although the rupiah crisis began in July and August 1997, it intensified in November when the effects of that summer devaluation showed up on corporate balance sheets. Companies that had borrowed in dollars had to face the higher costs imposed upon them by

6096-615: The Latin American debt crisis . The effects of the SAPs were mixed and their impact controversial. Critics, however, noted the contractionary nature of these policies, arguing that in a recession , the traditional Keynesian response was to increase government spending, prop up major companies, and lower interest rates. The reasoning was that by stimulating the economy and staving off recession , governments could restore confidence while preventing economic loss . They pointed out that

6223-428: The exchange market was flooded with the currencies of the crisis countries, putting depreciative pressure on their exchange rates. To prevent currency values collapsing, these countries' governments raised domestic interest rates to exceedingly high levels (to help diminish flight of capital by making lending more attractive to investors) and intervened in the exchange market, buying up any excess domestic currency at

6350-455: The fixed exchange rate with foreign reserves . Neither of these policy responses could be sustained for long, as several countries had insufficient levels of foreign exchange reserves. Very high interest rates, which can be extremely damaging to a healthy economy, wreaked further havoc on economies in an already fragile state, while the central banks were hemorrhaging foreign reserves, of which they had finite amounts. When it became clear that

6477-472: The " structural adjustment package" (SAP). The SAPs called on crisis-struck nations to reduce government spending and deficits, allow insolvent banks and financial institutions to fail, and aggressively raise interest rates. The reasoning was that these steps would restore confidence in the nations' fiscal solvency , penalize insolvent companies, and protect currency values. Above all, it was stipulated that IMF-funded capital had to be administered rationally in

SECTION 50

#1732771982929

6604-432: The "General Agreement to Borrow" and the "Emergency Finance Mechanism". The scope and the severity of the collapses led to an urgent need for outside intervention. Since the countries melting down were among the richest in their region, and in the world, and since hundreds of billions of dollars were at stake, any response to the crisis was likely to be cooperative and international. The International Monetary Fund created

6731-472: The 1990s after the implementation of a number of export-oriented reforms. Other economists dispute China's impact, noting that both ASEAN and China experienced simultaneous rapid export growth in the early 1990s. Many economists believe that the Asian crisis was created not by market psychology or technology, but by policies that distorted incentives within the lender–borrower relationship. The resulting large quantities of credit that became available generated

6858-498: The 1990s, hot money flew into the Southeast Asia region through financial hubs , especially Hong Kong. The investors were often ignorant of the actual fundamentals or risk profiles of the respective economies, and once the crisis gripped the region, the political uncertainty regarding the future of Hong Kong as an Asian financial centre led some investors to withdraw from Asia altogether. This shrink in investments only worsened

6985-538: The Americas including Argentina , Colombia , and the United States . Tongyang Cement, Tongyang Power, and Tongyang Securities were called the "key subsidiaries" of the Tongyang Group. Since then, Tongyang Power and Tongyang Securities were sold to outside acquirers. Some of the remaining major subsidiaries are described below. Tongyang Inc. ( KRX : 001520 ), known as Tong Yang Major ( 동양메이저 ) until June 2011,

7112-523: The Art to Prepare a Good Mortar published in St. Petersburg . A few years later in 1825, he published another book, which described various methods of making cement and concrete, and the benefits of cement in the construction of buildings and embankments. Portland cement , the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar , stucco , and non-speciality grout ,

7239-557: The IMF, the reserves of Thailand and South Korea were perilously low, and the Indonesian Rupiah was excessively depreciated. Thus, the first order of business was... to restore confidence in the currency. To achieve this, countries have to make it more attractive to hold domestic currency, which in turn, requires increasing interest rates temporarily, even if higher interest costs complicate the situation of weak banks and corporations... Why not operate with lower interest rates and

7366-543: The New York Commissioner of Highways to construct an experimental section of highway near New Paltz, New York , using one sack of Rosendale to six sacks of Portland cement. It was a success, and for decades the Rosendale-Portland cement blend was used in concrete highway and concrete bridge construction. Cementitious materials have been used as a nuclear waste immobilizing matrix for more than

7493-554: The Philippines dropped to virtually zero. Only Singapore proved relatively insulated from the shock, but nevertheless suffered serious hits in passing, mainly due to its status as a major financial hub and its geographical proximity to Malaysia and Indonesia. By 1999, however, analysts saw signs that the economies of Asia were beginning to recover. After the crisis, economies in East and Southeast Asia worked together toward financial stability and better financial supervision. The causes of

7620-463: The Philippines), these cements are often the most common form in use. The maximum replacement ratios are generally defined as for Portland-fly ash cement. Portland silica fume cement. Addition of silica fume can yield exceptionally high strengths, and cements containing 5–20% silica fume are occasionally produced, with 10% being the maximum allowed addition under EN 197–1. However, silica fume

7747-500: The Tongyang Group's sales. Like many South Korean companies with construction interests, Tongyang Group companies were often highly leveraged; Tongyang Inc., for instance, had a debt-to-equity ratio of 12-to-1 in June 2013. The group faced a cash shortage in September 2013, leading to doubts about its ability to repay debts maturing at the end of the month; NICE Investors Service estimated that it needed to raise ₩800 billion to survive. It

SECTION 60

#1732771982929

7874-471: The U.S. government had pursued expansionary policies, such as lowering interest rates, increasing government spending, and cutting taxes, when the United States itself entered a recession in 2001, and arguably the same in the fiscal and monetary policies during the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis. Many commentators in retrospect criticized the IMF for encouraging the developing economies of Asia down

8001-595: The USD–Baht currency peg, and the Thai government was eventually forced to float the Baht, on 2 July 1997, allowing the value of the Baht to be set by the currency market. This caused a chain reaction of events, eventually culminating into a region-wide crisis. Thailand's booming economy came to a halt amid massive layoffs in finance, real estate, and construction that resulted in huge numbers of workers returning to their villages in

8128-474: The United States a more attractive investment destination relative to Southeast Asia, which had been attracting hot money flows through high short-term interest rates, and raised the value of the U.S. dollar. For the Southeast Asian nations which had currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, the higher U.S. dollar caused their own exports to become more expensive and less competitive in the global markets. At

8255-513: The Yuanta brand name. The Orion Group, formerly a subsidiary, was spun off in 2001; its chairman Tam Chul-kon is Tongyang Group chairman Hyun Jae-hyun's brother-in-law. Among Orion's major subsidiaries is Orion (formerly Tongyang Confectionery), a major snacks manufacturer whose products include Choco Pies . The Tongyang Orions , the Tongyang Group's Korean Basketball League team based in Daegu at

8382-616: The absence of pozzolanic ash, the Romans used powdered brick or pottery as a substitute and they may have used crushed tiles for this purpose before discovering natural sources near Rome. The huge dome of the Pantheon in Rome and the massive Baths of Caracalla are examples of ancient structures made from these concretes, many of which still stand. The vast system of Roman aqueducts also made extensive use of hydraulic cement. Roman concrete

8509-446: The addition of Tongyang Networks and Tongyang Cement. In 2013, according to its organisational chart, the Tongyang Group had 17 South Korean subsidiaries in the field of manufacturing, seven in the field of financial services, and six offering other services. Group members also have foreign subsidiaries or representative offices in various Asian countries including Cambodia , China , Japan , Indonesia , Vietnam , and in countries of

8636-583: The affected countries were at the EMEAP (Executive Meeting of East Asia Pacific) meeting in Shanghai, and they failed to make the "New Arrangement to Borrow" operational. A year earlier, the finance ministers of these same countries had attended the 3rd APEC finance ministers meeting in Kyoto , Japan, on 17 March 1996, and according to that joint declaration, they had been unable to double the amounts available under

8763-557: The aftermath of the Tongyang Group's late 2013 crisis, Tongyang Life still saw an outflow of customers, and moved to decrease its remaining ties to the rest of the group. By late October 2013, Tongyang Life stated that it had sold all of its shares in Tongyang Inc.; by that point Tongyang Life had almost no shareholding ties to the rest of the group, with Tongyang Securities owning only a 3% stake in Tongyang Life and group chairman Hyun Jae-hyun owning another 1,283 shares. Tongyang Life

8890-630: The air. It is resistant to attack by chemicals after setting. The word "cement" can be traced back to the Ancient Roman term opus caementicium , used to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed rock with burnt lime as binder. The volcanic ash and pulverized brick supplements that were added to the burnt lime, to obtain a hydraulic binder , were later referred to as cementum , cimentum , cäment , and cement . In modern times, organic polymers are sometimes used as cements in concrete. World production of cement

9017-467: The available hydraulic limes, visiting their production sites, and noted that the "hydraulicity" of the lime was directly related to the clay content of the limestone used to make it. Smeaton was a civil engineer by profession, and took the idea no further. In the South Atlantic seaboard of the United States, tabby relying on the oyster-shell middens of earlier Native American populations

9144-401: The chain objectives of tightened money supply , discouraged currency speculation , stabilized exchange rate, curbed currency depreciation, and ultimately contained inflation . In the Asian meltdown, highest IMF officials rationalized their prescribed high interest rates as follows: From then IMF First Deputy managing director, Stanley Fischer in 1998: When their governments "approached

9271-477: The country to balance its budget and repay its debts to the IMF in 2003, four years ahead of schedule. The Thai baht continued to appreciate to 29 Baht to the U.S. dollar in October 2010. In June 1997, Indonesia seemed far from crisis. Unlike Thailand, Indonesia had low inflation, a trade surplus of more than $ 900 million, huge foreign exchange reserves of more than $ 20 billion, and a good banking sector. However,

9398-624: The country, many factors arising from all aspects, including sports broadcasting on Indonesian television, including: Additionally, the Indonesian motorcycle Grand Prix , which was held at Sentul , was dropped from the 1998 Superbike and MotoGP calendars. World Rally Championship also dropped the Rally Indonesia from their 1998 calendar . The banking sector was burdened with non-performing loans as its large corporations were funding aggressive expansions. During that time, there

9525-803: The countryside and 600,000 foreign workers being sent back to their home countries. The baht devalued swiftly and lost more than half of its value. The baht reached its lowest point of 56 units to the U.S. dollar in January 1998. The Thai stock market dropped 75%. Finance One, the largest Thai finance company until then, collapsed. On 11 August 1997, the IMF unveiled a rescue package for Thailand with more than $ 17 billion, subject to conditions such as passing laws relating to bankruptcy (reorganizing and restructuring) procedures and establishing strong regulation frameworks for banks and other financial institutions. The IMF approved on 20 August 1997, another bailout package of $ 2.9 billion. Poverty and inequality increased while employment, wages and social welfare all declined as

9652-412: The crisis spread, other Southeast Asian countries and later Japan and South Korea saw slumping currencies, devalued stock markets and other asset prices, and a precipitous rise in private debt . Foreign debt-to-GDP ratios rose from 100% to 167% in the four large Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies in 1993–96, then shot up beyond 180% during the worst of the crisis. In South Korea,

9779-482: The debacle are many and disputed. Thailand's economy developed into an economic bubble fueled by hot money . More and more was required as the size of the bubble grew. The same type of situation happened in Malaysia and Indonesia, which had the added complication of what was called " crony capitalism ". The short-term capital flow was expensive and often highly conditioned for quick profit . Development money went in

9906-420: The development of new cements. Most famous was Parker's " Roman cement ". This was developed by James Parker in the 1780s, and finally patented in 1796. It was, in fact, nothing like material used by the Romans, but was a "natural cement" made by burning septaria – nodules that are found in certain clay deposits, and that contain both clay minerals and calcium carbonate . The burnt nodules were ground to

10033-698: The domestic situation in Indonesia. After 30 years in power, Indonesian President Suharto was forced to step down on 21 May 1998 in the wake of widespread rioting that followed sharp price increases caused by a drastic devaluation of the rupiah . The effects of the crisis lingered through 1998, where many important stocks fell in Wall Street as a result of a dip in the values of the currencies of Russia and Latin American countries that weakened those countries' "demand for U.S. exports." In 1998, growth in

10160-607: The earliest known occurrence of cement is from twelve million years ago. A deposit of cement was formed after an occurrence of oil shale located adjacent to a bed of limestone burned by natural causes. These ancient deposits were investigated in the 1960s and 1970s. Cement, chemically speaking, is a product that includes lime as the primary binding ingredient, but is far from the first material used for cementation. The Babylonians and Assyrians used bitumen (asphalt or pitch ) to bind together burnt brick or alabaster slabs. In Ancient Egypt , stone blocks were cemented together with

10287-691: The economic environment. The devaluation of the Chinese renminbi and the Japanese yen , subsequent to the latter's strengthening due to the Plaza Accord of 1985, the raising of U.S. interest rates which led to a strong U.S. dollar, and the sharp decline in semiconductor prices, all adversely affected their growth. As the U.S. economy recovered from a recession in the early 1990s, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank under Alan Greenspan began to raise U.S. interest rates to head off inflation . This made

10414-426: The end of that period, the pace of withdrawals had slown. By January 2014, roughly 600 employees had chosen to leave the company. The Tongyang Group made efforts to sell Tongyang Securities in order to raise funds and pay back debts, but Tongyang Securities' prospects for a sale were said to be far poorer than sister company Tongyang Power, both due to decreased profitability and because Woori Investment & Securities

10541-504: The financial conditions in Asia (subsequently leading to the depreciation of the Thai baht on 2 July 1997). Several case studies on the topic of the application of network analysis of a financial system help to explain the interconnectivity of financial markets , as well as the significance of the robustness of hubs (or main nodes). Any negative externalities in the hubs creates

10668-461: The first decade of the nineteenth century. Vicat went on to devise a method of combining chalk and clay into an intimate mixture, and, burning this, produced an "artificial cement" in 1817 considered the "principal forerunner" of Portland cement and "...Edgar Dobbs of Southwark patented a cement of this kind in 1811." In Russia, Egor Cheliev created a new binder by mixing lime and clay. His results were published in 1822 in his book A Treatise on

10795-402: The formation of the liquid phase during the sintering ( firing ) process of clinker at high temperature in the kiln . The chemistry of these reactions is not completely clear and is still the object of research. First, the limestone (calcium carbonate) is burned to remove its carbon, producing lime (calcium oxide) in what is known as a calcination reaction. This single chemical reaction

10922-497: The future, with no favored parties receiving funds by preference. In at least one of the affected countries the restrictions on foreign ownership were greatly reduced. There were to be adequate government controls set up to supervise all financial activities, ones that were to be independent, in theory, of private interest. Insolvent institutions had to be closed, and insolvency itself had to be clearly defined. In addition, financial systems were to become "transparent", that is, provide

11049-404: The highest economic growth rate of any country at the time. Inflation was kept reasonably low within a range of 3.4–5.7%. The baht was pegged at 25 to the U.S. dollar. On 14 and 15 May 1997, the Thai baht was hit by massive speculative attacks. On 30 June 1997, Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said that he would not devalue the baht. However, Thailand lacked the foreign reserves to support

11176-426: The initial CO 2 emissions. Cement materials can be classified into two distinct categories: hydraulic cements and non-hydraulic cements according to their respective setting and hardening mechanisms. Hydraulic cement setting and hardening involves hydration reactions and therefore requires water, while non-hydraulic cements only react with a gas and can directly set under air. By far the most common type of cement

11303-467: The international financial community. Later that year, in July, South Korea's third-largest car maker, Kia Motors , asked for emergency loans. The domino effect of collapsing large South Korean companies drove the interest rates up and international investors away. In the wake of the Asian market downturn, Moody's lowered the credit rating of South Korea from A1 to A3, on 28 November 1997, and downgraded again to B2 on 11 December. That contributed to

11430-451: The kind of financial information used in the West to make financial decisions. As countries fell into crisis, many local businesses and governments that had taken out loans in US dollars, which suddenly became much more expensive relative to the local currency which formed their earned income, found themselves unable to pay their creditors. The dynamics of the situation were similar to that of

11557-404: The low pH (8.5–9.5) of its pore water) limited its use as reinforced concrete for building construction. The next development in the manufacture of Portland cement was the introduction of the rotary kiln . It produced a clinker mixture that was both stronger, because more alite (C 3 S) is formed at the higher temperature it achieved (1450 °C), and more homogeneous. Because raw material

11684-434: The only competent cement engineer in post-colonial South Korea"; Oh accepted the job offer. Lee then began repairs to the facilities with the aid of engineers from Germany's Polysius Company, resolved the labour disputes, and revamped the recruiting programmes; he hired heavily from the local Samcheok High School, and many of his new hires' fathers had worked for Onoda in the past. The South Korean cement industry experienced

11811-465: The other materials in the mix to form calcium silicates and other cementitious compounds. The resulting hard substance, called 'clinker', is then ground with a small amount of gypsum ( CaSO 4 ·2H 2 O ) into a powder to make ordinary Portland cement , the most commonly used type of cement (often referred to as OPC). Portland cement is a basic ingredient of concrete , mortar , and most non-specialty grout . The most common use for Portland cement

11938-443: The path of "fast-track capitalism", meaning liberalization of the financial sector (elimination of restrictions on capital flows), maintenance of high domestic interest rates to attract portfolio investment and bank capital, and pegging of the national currency to the dollar to reassure foreign investors against currency risk. The conventional high-interest-rate economic strategy is normally employed by monetary authorities to attain

12065-474: The point that some states stopped building highways and roads with cement. Bertrain H. Wait, an engineer whose company had helped construct the New York City's Catskill Aqueduct , was impressed with the durability of Rosendale cement, and came up with a blend of both Rosendale and Portland cements that had the good attributes of both. It was highly durable and had a much faster setting time. Wait convinced

12192-537: The program, 787 insolvent financial institutions were closed or merged by June 2003. The number of financial institutions in which foreign investors invested has increased rapidly. Examples include New Bridge Capital's takeover of Korea First Bank. The South Korean won , meanwhile, weakened to more than 1,700 per U.S. dollar from around 800, but later managed to recover. However, like the chaebol, South Korea's government did not escape unscathed. Its national debt -to-GDP ratio more than doubled (approximately 13% to 30%) as

12319-411: The purchase actually went through, Vogo acquired only an additional 44.05% of the company, with Atinum Partners CEO Lee Min-joo purchasing the remainder of the amount that Vogo had originally agreed to purchase. Afterwards, it was less closely connected to the Tongyang Group than other group members, though it continued to use the Tongyang name, and also held 4.25 million shares in Tongyang Inc. However, in

12446-464: The rate was almost exactly 8,000 to 1 U.S. dollar. Indonesia lost 13.5% of its GDP that year. In February 1998, President Suharto sacked the incumbent Bank Indonesia governor, J. Soedradjad Djiwandono , but this proved insufficient. Amidst widespread rioting in May 1998 , Suharto resigned under public pressure and Vice President B. J. Habibie replaced him. As a result of the financial crisis that hit

12573-619: The ratios rose from 13% to 21% and then as high as 40%, while the other northern newly industrialized countries fared much better. Only in Thailand and South Korea did debt service-to-exports ratios rise. South Korea , Indonesia and Thailand were the countries most affected by the crisis. Hong Kong , Laos , Malaysia and the Philippines were also hurt by the slump. Brunei , mainland China , Japan , Singapore , Taiwan , and Vietnam were less affected, although all suffered from

12700-447: The rest Portland clinker and a little gypsum. All compositions produce high ultimate strength, but as slag content is increased, early strength is reduced, while sulfate resistance increases and heat evolution diminishes. Used as an economic alternative to Portland sulfate-resisting and low-heat cements. Portland-fly ash cement contains up to 40% fly ash under ASTM standards (ASTM C595), or 35% under EN standards (EN 197–1). The fly ash

12827-405: The role of asymmetric information in the financial markets that led to a " herd mentality " among investors that magnified a small risk in the real economy. The crisis has thus attracted attention from behavioral economists interested in market psychology . Another possible cause of the sudden risk shock may also be attributable to the handover of Hong Kong sovereignty on 1 July 1997 . During

12954-408: The role of the real economy in the crisis compared to the financial markets. The rapidity with which the crisis happened has prompted Sachs and others to compare it to a classic bank run prompted by a sudden risk shock. Sachs pointed to strict monetary and contractionary fiscal policies implemented by the governments on the advice of the IMF in the wake of the crisis, while Frederic Mishkin points to

13081-550: The rupiah currency trading band from 8% to 12%. As a result, the rupiah suddenly came under severe attack in August. Therefore, on the 14th of the month, the managed floating exchange regime was replaced by a free-floating exchange rate arrangement. The rupiah dropped further due to the shift. The IMF came forward with a rescue package of $ 23 billion, but the rupiah was sinking further amid fears over corporate debts, massive selling of rupiah, and strong demand for dollars. The rupiah and

13208-458: The rupiah's decline, and many reacted by buying dollars through selling rupiah, undermining the value of the latter further. Before the crisis, the exchange rate between the rupiah and the dollar was roughly 2,600 rupiah to 1 U.S. dollar. The rate plunged to over 11,000 rupiah to 1 U.S. dollar on 9 January 1998, with spot rates over 14,000 during 23–26 January and trading again over 14,000 for about six weeks during June–July 1998. On 31 December 1998,

13335-686: The same business group: Tong Yang Magic held a 1.05% stake in Hanil, and failed to divest its holdings within a six-month grace period after a November 2009 warning, due to which Tong Yang Magic was fined ₩173 million by the Fair Trade Commission in March 2010. Tongyang Power ( 동양파워 ) is an electricity generation company. In September 2013, it was owned 55.02% by Tongyang Cement, 19.99% by Tongyang Corp., and 24.99% by Tongyang Leisure. In January 2013, Tongyang Power made what would ultimately be

13462-448: The same time, Southeast Asia's export growth slowed dramatically in the spring of 1996, deteriorating their current account position. Some economists have advanced the growing exports of China as a factor contributing to ASEAN nations' export growth slowdown, though these economists maintain the main cause of their crises was excessive real estate speculation. China had begun to compete effectively with other Asian exporters particularly in

13589-407: The sea, they set hard underwater. The Greeks used volcanic tuff from the island of Thera as their pozzolan and the Romans used crushed volcanic ash (activated aluminium silicates ) with lime. This mixture could set under water, increasing its resistance to corrosion like rust. The material was called pozzolana from the town of Pozzuoli , west of Naples where volcanic ash was extracted. In

13716-466: The tide of capital fleeing these countries was not to be stopped, the authorities ceased defending their fixed exchange rates and allowed their currencies to float . The resulting depreciated value of those currencies meant that foreign currency-denominated liabilities grew substantially in domestic currency terms, causing more bankruptcies and further deepening the crisis. Other economists, including Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs , have downplayed

13843-506: The time, also came under Orion Group ownership, and officially dropped the "Tongyang" from their name starting from the 2003–04 season . Tongyang Life Insurance ( 동양생명보험 ; KRX : 082640 ) is a life insurance company with the Tongyang brand name. The Vogo Fund, a private equity fund, reached a deal to increase its stake in Tongyang Life Insurance from 13.5% to 60% in November 2010 for ₩900 billion. In March 2011, when

13970-469: The trial court disagreed with prosecutors that this was a breach of fiduciary duty by Tong Yang Major directors or that this had resulted in economic harm to Hanil. Both an appellate court and the Supreme Court of South Korea upheld the trial court's ruling. Hanil was merged into Tong Yang Major in May 2008, which resulted in a violation of South Korea's cross-investment rules on affiliates within

14097-574: Was a haste to build great conglomerates to compete on the world stage. Many businesses ultimately failed to ensure returns and profitability. The chaebol , South Korean conglomerates, simply absorbed more and more capital investment. Eventually, excess debt led to major failures and takeovers. Amongst other stimuli, the crisis resulted in the bankruptcy of major Korean companies, provoking not only corporations, but also government officials towards corruption. The Hanbo scandal of early 1997 exposed South Korea's economic weaknesses and corruption problems to

14224-475: Was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion . However, the recovery in 1998–1999 was rapid, and worries of a meltdown quickly subsided. Originating in Thailand, where it

14351-444: Was a true alite-based cement. However, Aspdin's methods were "rule-of-thumb": Vicat is responsible for establishing the chemical basis of these cements, and Johnson established the importance of sintering the mix in the kiln . In the US the first large-scale use of cement was Rosendale cement , a natural cement mined from a massive deposit of dolomite discovered in the early 19th century near Rosendale, New York . Rosendale cement

14478-458: Was also being sold and so competed with it for potential acquirers. Deloitte Anjin supervised Tongyang Securities' sales efforts, but in early January 2014, KB Financial Group withdrew from bidding. Tongyang Securities also faced accusations of misconduct in selling Tongyang Group company bonds to individual investors, an issue which was drawn to widespread public attention when a female employee committed suicide on 2 October 2013 and left behind

14605-438: Was also reportedly seeking to change its name. Cement A cement is a binder , a chemical substance used for construction that sets , hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate ) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel , produces concrete . Concrete

14732-412: Was considered one of the group's best-run companies and a "cash cow". Its June 2013 audit report stated that it had cashable assets of ₩57.8 billion. It had a half-year operating loss of ₩2.9 billion, but had nearly its doubled sales revenue from ₩159.9 billion in 2011 to ₩319.2 billion in 2012. Hanil Synthetic Fiber ( 한일합섬 ), a textiles company, was founded in 1964, but went into court receivership after

14859-479: Was counterintuitive for manufacturers of "artificial cements", because they required more lime in the mix (a problem for his father), a much higher kiln temperature (and therefore more fuel), and the resulting clinker was very hard and rapidly wore down the millstones , which were the only available grinding technology of the time. Manufacturing costs were therefore considerably higher, but the product set reasonably slowly and developed strength quickly, thus opening up

14986-473: Was developed in England in the mid 19th century, and usually originates from limestone . James Frost produced what he called "British cement" in a similar manner around the same time, but did not obtain a patent until 1822. In 1824, Joseph Aspdin patented a similar material, which he called Portland cement , because the render made from it was in color similar to the prestigious Portland stone quarried on

15113-505: Was dissolved due to the crisis, and eventually Daewoo Motors was sold to the American company General Motors (GM). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided US$ 58.4 billion as a bailout package. In return, Korea was required to take restructuring measures. The ceiling on foreign investment in Korean companies was raised from 26 percent to 100 percent. In addition, the Korean government started financial sector reform program. Under

15240-505: Was extremely popular for the foundation of buildings ( e.g. , Statue of Liberty , Capitol Building , Brooklyn Bridge ) and lining water pipes. Sorel cement , or magnesia-based cement, was patented in 1867 by the Frenchman Stanislas Sorel . It was stronger than Portland cement but its poor water resistance (leaching) and corrosive properties ( pitting corrosion due to the presence of leachable chloride anions and

15367-629: Was formalized by French and British engineers in the 18th century. John Smeaton made an important contribution to the development of cements while planning the construction of the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59) in the English Channel now known as Smeaton's Tower . He needed a hydraulic mortar that would set and develop some strength in the twelve-hour period between successive high tides . He performed experiments with combinations of different limestones and additives including trass and pozzolanas and did exhaustive market research on

15494-402: Was known as part of the " Asian economic miracle ". In the mid-1990s, Thailand , Indonesia and South Korea had large private current account deficits, and the maintenance of fixed exchange rates encouraged external borrowing and led to excessive exposure to foreign exchange risk in both the financial and corporate sectors. In the mid-1990s, a series of external shocks began to change

15621-488: Was known as the Tom Yum Kung crisis ( Thai : วิกฤตต้มยำกุ้ง ) on 2 July, it followed the financial collapse of the Thai baht after the Thai government was forced to float the baht due to lack of foreign currency to support its currency peg to the U.S. dollar . Capital flight ensued almost immediately, beginning an international chain reaction. At the time, Thailand had acquired a burden of foreign debt . As

15748-405: Was rarely used on the outside of buildings. The normal technique was to use brick facing material as the formwork for an infill of mortar mixed with an aggregate of broken pieces of stone, brick, potsherds , recycled chunks of concrete, or other building rubble. Lightweight concrete was designed and used for the construction of structural elements by the pre-Columbian builders who lived in

15875-414: Was reported that the group would issue securities backed by the assets of key subsidiaries, and then liquidate them. On 30 September 2013, Tongyang Group failed to pay back more than ₩100 billion in debt, and officially filed for court receivership for three of its subsidiaries: Tongyang Corp., Tongyang International, and Tongyang Leisure. The list of subsidiaries in receivership soon expanded to five with

16002-407: Was used in house construction from the 1730s to the 1860s. In Britain particularly, good quality building stone became ever more expensive during a period of rapid growth, and it became a common practice to construct prestige buildings from the new industrial bricks, and to finish them with a stucco to imitate stone. Hydraulic limes were favored for this, but the need for a fast set time encouraged

16129-641: Was used in the Eastern Roman Empire as well as in the West into the Gothic period . The German Rhineland continued to use hydraulic mortar throughout the Middle Ages, having local pozzolana deposits called trass . Tabby is a building material made from oyster shell lime, sand, and whole oyster shells to form a concrete. The Spanish introduced it to the Americas in the sixteenth century. The technical knowledge for making hydraulic cement

#928071