At 786% Debt-to-Equity, Hyundai Merchant Faces `Brutal' Year
- Hyundai Group's shipping company to sell assets as debt mounts
- Hyundai Merchant has 2.2 trillion won of debt coming due
Shipping containers sit stacked among gantry cranes in this aerial photograph taken above the BNCT Co. container terminal at Busan New Port in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday, July 30, 2015. South Korea is scheduled to release trade figures on Aug. 1.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergMore than two years after announcing a 3.3 trillion won ($2.7 billion) bailout of the Hyundai Group, chairwoman Hyun Jeong Eun is still struggling to keep her late husband’s business empire afloat.
The South Korean conglomerate, a collection of 21 companies, announced additional bailout measures Tuesday that include selling stakes in Hyundai Securities Co. and Pusan Newport Co. to tackle a "liquidity crisis" that hasn’t been resolved. That’s despite having raised 3.6 trillion won as of Dec. 31 -- 8.6 percent above its target -- through a combination of asset sales, share sales, cost cuts and loans.