[Edaily Reporter Shin Ha-yeon ] KONA I CO.,LTD.(052400)is acquiring a U.S. card manufacturing and issuing company to secure a local production and sales base. The company plans to expand its penetration of the U.S. market by combining the competitiveness of its existing smart cards and premium metal cards with its local customer network.

KONA I CO.,LTD. announced on the 1st that it is acquiring 100% of the shares in the U.S. card manufacturing company “Protec Secure Card, LLC (PSC).”

This acquisition will be carried out through “KONA America Holdings Inc.,” a holding company that KONA I CO.,LTD. is establishing in the U.S. KONA I CO.,LTD. held a board meeting on the 31st of last month and decided to invest $22 million (approximately 30.283 billion won) in KONA America Holdings.

Of this amount, approximately $20.1 million will be used to acquire a stake in PSC, while the remainder will be utilized as working capital. The transaction is expected to close by the end of this month.

PSC possesses in-house capabilities for producing EMV chip cards based on Java and Native platforms, as well as card personalization services. KONA I CO.,LTD. plans to combine its metal card manufacturing technology and chip/operating system (OS) solutions with PSC’s production and personalization infrastructure.

In particular, the companies will establish a structure in which KONA I CO.,LTD.’s COB (Chip On Board) chips are directly integrated into PSC’s card manufacturing process and sold as finished products. The vision is to create a business model where KONA I CO.,LTD.’s chip supply increases in tandem with the growth of PSC’s card sales.

Securing a local sales network is another key objective of this acquisition. KONA I CO.,LTD. plans to leverage PSC’s sales organization and customer channels to expand its customer base beyond existing large financial institutions to include small and medium-sized U.S. banks, which have been difficult to access directly until now. The company also intends to pursue cross-selling between products such as metal cards and PVC cards.

The company also plans to enhance its ability to respond to changes in the trade environment, such as tariffs, by securing a production base in the U.S. It is also considering expanding local production facilities in the future, depending on the volume of orders for PVC and metal cards in the U.S. and changes in tariff policies.

KONA I CO.,LTD. exports its products to over 90 countries based on its proprietary Java-based Chip Operating System (COS). The company entered the premium metal card market in 2018, and according to the company, metal card sales exceeded 7 million units last year.

Cho Jung-il, Chairman of KONA I CO.,LTD., stated, “By eliminating the physical distance from our U.S. customers, we have opened up new sales opportunities even to small and medium-sized banks that were previously out of reach,” adding, “We will use this acquisition as a springboard to further elevate KONA I CO.,LTD.’s presence in the U.S. market.”