Hyundai Group, a South Korean shipping conglomerate facing a protracted slump, is striving to draw up a plan to stand on its own feet amid government pressure to reshape its money-losing business portfolio, industry watchers said Wednesday.

Hyundai Group has been rushing to salvage its key unit, Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. which has been in the red for years due to a decline in freight rates and global trade. The group's losses also have ballooned following the suspension of cross-border tours to North Korea's Mount Kumgang operated by its tourism arm Hyundai Asan Corp.

In 2013, the group announced a self-rescue plan to raise some 3.3 trillion won ($2.85 billion) by selling assets.

The group's efforts had seemed to pay off, but hit a stumbling block last month as Japanese private equity firm Orix pulled out of a deal to take over Hyundai's brokerage unit, Hyundai Securities Co., worth 648 billion won.

So far, the group is said to have raised some 2 trillion won, partly through the sale of its logistics affiliate and stakes in other companies.

State-run Korea Development Bank, which has been overseeing the Hyundai Securities transaction, is expected to set a new time table for the proposed sale of Hyundai Merchant Marine's stake in the brokerage.

As one option under review, Hyundai Group is considering abandoning control of its shipping unit, or asking Hyundai Motor Group to buy the loss-making shipping unit.

The group is also mulling over selling bonds. The shipping unit's affiliate is said to be able to sell 300 billion won worth of bonds backed by its long-term contracts.

The affiliate has supply contracts with steelmaker POSCO, state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. and other companies on a long-term basis. (Yonhap)