Hyundai Group is preferred bidder for top S Korean builder

SEOUL: The Hyundai Group was selected on Tuesday as the preferred bidder for a controlling stake in South Korea's largest construction company, creditors said.

The selection followed a fierce bidding war between Hyundai Group and top carmaker Hyundai Motor.

Creditors said they would complete the process of selling a 34.88 per cent stake, potentially worth three billion dollars, in Hyundai Engineering and Construction early next year.

All three were previously part of the huge Hyundai conglomerate.

Creditors took control of the builder in a debt-for-equity swap in 2001, when the conglomerate hived off Hyundai Motor and some other businesses after its founder Chung Ju-Yung died.

Hyundai Motor chief Chung Mong-Koo and his widowed sister-in-law Hyun Jeong-Eun, who leads the much smaller Hyundai Group, have gone head to head with television advertising campaigns to push their rival claims to the builder.

The Hyundai Group includes a shipping firm, a brokerage, a tour company that operates projects in North Korea and an elevator maker.