Hyundai Logistics sale to streamline ownership of wider group

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Hyundai Group is expected to be able to streamline its cyclical ownership structure with the sale of its logistics unit to be completed next week, raising market confidence in the cash-strapped conglomerate, corporate sources have said.

Insiders said the money generated by the sale of Hyundai Logistics to Japanese private equity fund Orix Corp will be used by Hyundai chairwoman Hyun Chung-eun and her family to purchase a 100 percent stake in Hyundai Global, the holding company for the entire conglomerate.

Hyundai Logistics will be sold for £352 million (600 billion won), of which 44 billion won will be used to allow the chairwoman to control the holding company.

This transaction and the purchase of shares that is expected to take place on Monday will resolve the "complicated" circular intra-group shareholding system employed by many of South Korea's key conglomerates such as Hyundai.

Under this structure, questions persist about the overall transparency of a business group's operations.

Once the cross-shareholding scheme is completed, the group's ownership will become "straightforward," with Hyun at the top, controlling the management rights of Hyundai Elevator Co. and Hyundai Merchant Marines (HMM) through Hyundai Global.

"The whole process will clarify the ownership structure of the Hyundai Group, that will be beneficial in conducting business down the road," another official at HMM said.

He added that of the 3.3 trillion won in funds that Hyundai Group pledged to raise late last year to deal with its obligations, the conglomerate has generated 2.7 trillion won, or 80 percent of the target.

Besides the logistics company, HMM sold off its LNG operations and certain port facilities while the sale of the group's brokerage firm will generate more cash.

Visit Yonhap News Agency for up-to-date information on Hyundai, here: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2014/09/25/0200000000AEN20140925010500320.html?input=www.tweeter.com