Hyundai Heavy Industries has joined in the bidding competition to take over Korea Aerospace Industries, the nation’s sole aircraft manufacturer.While it had been widely expected that Korean Air would be the sole bidder, Hyundai Heavy, one of the nation’s 10 largest conglomerates, entered its bid to the state-run Korea Finance Corp. on Thursday.The Korea Finance Corp. holds a 26.41 percent stake in KAI as the largest shareholder. The state-run financier and three other major shareholders are movi

Industry Sept. 27, 2012

Family owners of some business groups are still short of responsible management despite their influential status, according to data held by the antitrust regulator.“As a large portion families and relatives of conglomerate founders are not registered as board members, it is difficult for authorities to take legal actions against them for irregular practices,” the Fair Trade Commission said in a statement on Thursday.Further, the average proportion of top owners registered as board of directors t

Industry Sept. 27, 2012

Hyundai Motor Group announced Tuesday that its automobile financing subsidiary has successfully made inroads into the Chinese market through a joint venture.“Hyundai Capital Services launched Hyundai Capital China, a joint venture firm in collaboration with Beijing Automotive Industry Group Investment,” the automotive group said in a statement.It said the joint entity, headquartered in Beijing, will provide Chinese consumers with auto financing for Hyundai and Kia vehicles.The group’s initial in

Industry Sept. 25, 2012

The average salary for workers in the nation’s 30 major conglomerates has come to 63 million won ($56,300) per year, according to a corporate information tracker.Hyundai Motor Group eclipsed the rest with a yearly wage payment of 84 million won last year, data gathered by chaebul.com showed. The nation’s No. 2 business group has 10 listed subsidiaries including Hyundai Mobis and Kia Motors.Hyundai Heavy Industries ranked second with 76.4 million won, followed by Samsung Group with 74.8 million w

Industry Sept. 24, 2012

The price of gasoline sold in South Korea has more than doubled since 1997 when the country lifted restrictions on oil prices, industry data showed Sunday.According to the data compiled by the Korea National Oil Corp., the gasoline price at the pump averaged 1,929 won ($1.73) per liter last year, up 130 percent from 838 won in 1997.The price of diesel also skyrocketed over the cited period. A liter of diesel oil was 376 won in 1997 but jumped 364 percent to 1,745 won in 2011.The KNOC data showed

Industry Sept. 23, 2012

South Korea’s economic growth rate for 2012 is expected to slow to 2.5 percent from an earlier estimate of 3 percent due to a global economic slowdown, a private think tank said Sunday.The growth projection by the LG Economic Research Institute is much lower than the government’s 3.3 percent estimate. The central Bank of Korea expects the economy to expand 3 percent this year.The LGERI also said the South Korean economy, Asia’s fourth-largest, will likely expand 3.3 percent next year without ent

Industry Sept. 23, 2012

Overseas shipments of South Korea’s traditional rice wine, makgeolli, shrank sharply in the first eight months of the year in the midst of a deepening global slowdown, customs data showed Sunday.According to the data by the Korea Customs Service, makgeolli exports totaled US$29 million in the first eight months of the year, down 22.4 percent from a year earlier. The volume of the beverage fell 24.1 percent on-year to 22 million liters over the eight-month period.Exports of makgeolli had jumped 8

Industry Sept. 23, 2012

South Korean stocks are expected to take another breather this week, moving only in a tight range due to the lack of any major drivers to spur the market, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished at 2,002.37 last week, down 0.6 percent from a week earlier when the key index surged to a five-month high of 2,007.58.Foreign investors purchased a combined net 1 trillion won ($895 million) worth of shares, while institutional investors sold off a net 800 billion

Sept. 23, 2012

A growing number of small investors are investing in stocks on the secondary KOSDAQ market, particularly by applying for loans as they bet on a bullish market ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election.According to the Financial Investment Association, stock investment-oriented outstanding loans to individuals increased by 29.8 percent over the past three months ― from 1.33 trillion won ($1.18 billion) at the end of June to 1.73 trillion won as of Sept. 20.The sort of lending means that investor

Sept. 23, 2012

Global investors’ holding of local stocks to hit record high of W500trForeigners recently became net buyers of Korean stocks amid policies of the U.S. and European Union to boost the regional and global economies.Data released by the Financial Supervisory Service showed that foreign investors have bought local stocks and bonds worth a net 40.3 trillion won ($35.9 billion) so far this year.Their net buying of bonds and shares came to 15.3 trillion won and 25 trillion won, respectively, between Ja

Sept. 20, 2012