SEOUL, KOREA - Hyundai Motor and KiaMotors announced a 670-billion-won buyback program as part of an effort toappease their investors who are disappointed with the recent plunge in theirshare prices.
The two car makersannounced on November 11 that they will buy back 450 billion won and 220.9billion won shares each.
Under this plan,Hyundai Motor will buy back 2.2 million ordinary shares and 650,000 preferredshares, while Kia Motors will buy back 4.05 million ordinary shares.
Thanks to their buybackdecision, their share prices turned upward after declining in the morning sessiondue to the news that automobiles are excluded in the list of tariff concessionsin the recently signed Korea-China free trade agreement.
The share price ofHyundai Motor has plunged by about 20 percent over the past one and a halfmonth since it acquired the site for former Korea Electric PowerCorp.headquarters and surrounding properties at 10.5 trillion won, three timesmore than the going price.
Article provided by The Korea Economic Daily
