Stocks in carmaker Hyundai Motor and its auto parts-making affiliate Hyundai Mobis that Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun bought during the peak of the coronavirus crisis last year have tripled in value, according to data on Monday.

When Hyundai Motor Group stocks hit the rock bottom in March last year, Chung purchased stocks valued more than 80 billion won. The purchase price of a Hyundai Motor share was 69,793 won and 135,294 won for a share in Hyundai Mobis.

Based on the closing price of the two companies on Friday, Hyundai Motor’s stock surpassed 240,000 won-mark, an increase of nearly 250 percent from March, while Hyundai Mobis’ stock increased 137 percent to 321,500 won.

Hyundai Motor stocks gained rapidly amid reports and rumors circulating that US IT giant Apple has proposed cooperation with the South Korean carmaker for its self-driving electric car project, reportedly named “Apple Car.” The Seoul-based carmaker has said that nothing has been decided yet.

As a result, the combined value of the chairman‘s newly bought stocks, which stood at 81.7 billion won ($73.9 million) in March last year, soared to 237.1 billion, as of Jan. 15.

During that period, South Korea’s main bourse Kospi recovered from a low of 1,457.64 recorded on March 19 to a historic high of 3,148.45 on Jan. 11. The benchmark index closed at 3,085.90 on Friday.

The value of all of the stocks of listed firms held by Chairman Chung increased sharply from 1.6 trillion won at the end of 2019 to 3.8 trillion won on Jan. 15.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)