KDB Financial Group chairman Kang Man-soo unveiled his concrete plan to launch the group’s privatization process again this year. At a news conference on Thursday, Kang said the state-run financial group will sell 10 percent of the shares held by the government by the end of 2012. He said the stake sale will be carried out through the group’s planned listing, or pushing for initial public offer...

Hana Financial Group chairman Kim Seung-yu raised the possibility on Wednesday that the group’s preliminary deal with Lone Star Funds to trade shares of Korea Exchange Bank could fall apart. If financial regulators do not finalize their stance on whether to approve or reject the Hana-Lone Star deal by the end of February, there is a high possibility that the U.S. fund will drop out of the contra...

The nation’s import car industry saw its monthly sales fall for the first time in 28 months in December 2011. According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, foreign carmakers reported combined sales of 7,879 units last December, down from 8,294 units a year earlier. The year-on-year drop in sales was the first since the figure stood at 3,612 units in August 2009, comp...

KB Financial to seek M&As if necessary; Eximbank to push for bank name change KDB Financial Group chairman Kang Man-soo and Woori Financial Group chairman Lee Pal-seung have clarified their resolve to privatize the state-funded groups. In his New Year message to KDB Financial staff, Kang said the group will “expand global networks” to become a leading bank in Asia and “revitalize the plan to se...

The Chung Mong-koo Foundation has named Yoo Young-hak, a former health vice minister, as the new chairman. Starting next month, the 56-year-old chairman will lead the foundation to carry out social activities for the foundation, which was funded by Hyundai Motor Group. Yoo graduated from Gyeongbuk High School, then Korea University and the University of California, Berkeley. He had mostly serv...

Group’s R&D investment to focus on launching more hybrid models Hyundai Motor Group has set a record-high budget with its 2012 investment in two major sectors ― facilities and research & development. The automotive group said Thursday that its investment target for next year comes to 14.1 trillion won ($12.3 billion), up 15.6 percent from its 2011 investment. Of the 14.1 trillion won investmen...

Hyundai Motor Group will establish an automotive research institute at the Seoul campus of Hanyang University. The business group said Wednesday that it has signed a contract with the university to build a research center for developing futuristic cars. The two sides will break ground for the establishment of the center during the first half of 2012, Hyundai Motor said in a statement. By offer...

The vision of Prudential of Korea is to become the most trusted company. Instead of becoming the biggest or most profitable company, it aims to be an honest and ethical company trusted by customers. The life insurance firm believes that the way it can achieve the vision is by keeping the promise it makes to its customers, which is delivery of insurance benefits. POK is committed to fulfilling t...

Toyota Motor Corp. said its vehicle sales may rise the most in at least 12 years in 2012 as Asia’s biggest carmaker recovers from production disruptions caused by Japan’s March earthquake and Thailand’s record flooding. The maker of Prius hybrid cars may boost global deliveries 20 percent to 8.48 million vehicles from an estimated 7.05 million in 2011, it said in a statement today. The forecast ...

Hyundai-Kia’s exports to surpass 2m units; import car sales to top 100,000 units in 2011 The overall automotive industry of Korea posted robust sales growth in 2011, despite global economic woes in the wake of the eurozone debt crisis. Korean companies, such as Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, saw exports surge and foreign companies, including BMW and Mercedes-Benz, expanded their presence in the ...

Hyundai Motor tops German quality report for second consecutive year Hyundai Motor said Friday that former BMW designer Christopher Chapman will lead the carmaker’s global design initiative as chief designer at the Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. in the U.S. Chapman takes over from Philip Zak, who joined Hyundai Motor from General Motors in 2009 and recently returned to GM. The company e...