Rumors are swirling over the auction of Hyundai Securities, with its seller, Hyundai Group, again delaying the announcement of a preferred bidder.

The group said Wednesday it will unveil its choice on Friday, at the earliest, delaying the announcement initially scheduled for Tuesday for the second time. It needs more time to study offers, the group said. 


Three groups submitted their final offers by the March 25 deadline. They are KB Financial Group, Korea Investment Holdings and Hong Kong-based private equity firm Actis.

Some local reports say KB and Korea Investment may have offered close to 1 trillion won ($870 million) for the 22.56 percent stake in the brokerage firm, nearly triple its current market value, which is about 3,500 billion based on Wednesday’s stock price. Actis’ offer is far below at around 8,000 billion won, they said.

Others, however, said the three are so close in their bid prices.

Meanwhile, NH Financial Group, which has the country’s largest brokerage firm by asset, joined Actis as a liquidity provider. NH said it has no intention to take over the smaller Hyundai Securities and that it will only provide a fund of 2,000 billion won to Actis, should it win the race.

The stake sale is part of Hyundai Group’s plan to salvage its flagship Hyundai Merchant Marine, which recently entered into a debt settlement agreement with creditors. The group has promised to the creditors to complete the deal by June.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)