005380.KS - Hyundai Motor Company
| Previous Close | 124,500.00 |
| Open | 124,500.00 |
| Bid | 125,000.00 x 0 |
| Ask | 125,500.00 x 0 |
| Day's Range | 124,000.00 - 125,500.00 |
| 52 Week Range | 92,500.00 - 143,500.00 |
| Volume | 468,710 |
| Avg. Volume | 509,851 |
| Market Cap | 30.199T |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 0.39 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | N/A |
| EPS (TTM) | N/A |
| Earnings Date | Jan 22, 2020 - Jan 27, 2020 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 4,000.00 (3.19%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2019-06-27 |
| 1y Target Est | 138,692.00 |
- Reuters
UPDATE 1-Hyundai to make Santa Cruz pickups at Alabama plant in $410 mln expansion
South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor will start making its Santa Cruz pickup trucks at its U.S. factory in 2021, with an investment of $410 million, as it seeks a foothold in the popular, but highly competitive, segment led by U.S. rivals. The Alamaba factory expansion was announced as President Donald Trump is expected this week to push back a self-imposed deadline on whether to put tariffs of up to 25% on imported cars and parts. Hyundai has invested more than $1.1 billion in the Montgomery region in the last 18 months, with the latest move expected to add 200 new jobs and 1,000 people employed by regional suppliers and logistics companies.
- Reuters
Hyundai to make Santa Cruz pickups at Alabama plant in $410 million expansion
The Alamaba factory expansion was announced as President Donald Trump is expected this week to push back a self-imposed deadline on whether to put tariffs of up to 25% on imported cars and parts. Hyundai has invested more than $1.1 billion in the Montgomery region in the last 18 months, with the latest move expected to add 200 new jobs and 1,000 people employed by regional suppliers and logistics companies. The factory, which began production in 2005, was Hyundai's first assembly and manufacturing plant in the United States and now has 2,900 full-time and 500 part-time employees.
- Bloomberg
Hyundai Plows Into Pickup Market by Expanding Alabama Plant
(Bloomberg) -- Hyundai Motor Co. is entering the U.S. pickup market by building a new vehicle at an existing plant in Alabama, betting it can better appeal to American consumers ditching sedans for trucks and SUVs.The South Korean company said Wednesday it will invest $410 million at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, its factory in Montgomery, adding 200 jobs to start making the vehicle in 2021. While Hyundai has billed the model, called Santa Cruz, a “compact utility vehicle,” it features an open truck bed.The U.S. manufacturing announcement is the second of the day by a major international automaker: Volkswagen AG broke ground Wednesday on a previously announced $800 million expansion of its production complex in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Perhaps not coincidentally, President Donald Trump gave himself a mid-November deadline to decide whether to put tariffs on impose levies on imported cars and auto parts. His administration is expected to delay a decision another six months.“Our hope is that the negotiations we’ve been having with individual companies about their capital investment plans will bear enough fruit that it may not be necessary” to put levies into effect, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg Television earlier this month. “We’ve had very good conversations with our European friends, with our Japanese friends, with our Korean friends.”Hyundai debuted the Santa Cruz as a concept nearly five years ago and has hinted in recent months it planned to produce the vehicle in the U.S. The Alabama plant, which started producing cars in 2005, employs roughly 3,000 workers making Santa Fe SUVs and the Elantra and Sonata sedans.Adding the Santa Cruz could help make up for slack demand for the cars built in Montgomery. While sales have risen 11% for the Santa Fe this year, deliveries have dropped 16% for both the Elantra and Sonata.(Updates with trade background in the third paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Chester Dawson in Southfield at cdawson54@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Kevin MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
Russia's October car sales fall 5.2% y/y - AEB
Sales of new cars in Russia fell 5.2% year-on-year in October to 152,057 units, after a 0.2% decline in the previous month, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said on Thursday. "Total market sales in October underachieved last year's result by 5.2%, firmly keeping the market on the path of a slow but continuous erosion of the much-needed volume gains secured in the years 2017-2018," Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, said in a statement. The AEB said last month it expected sales of new cars to fall 2.2% in Russia in 2019.
- Bloomberg
How Can the Land of K-Pop Fail to Innovate?
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- South Korea is the land of foldable phones, K-pop and beauty creams. But somehow its best and brightest are missing out on the hottest innovation trends.Take a look around. Where is Korea’s Uber Technologies Inc.? And there’s nothing close to China’s Ant Financial, the fintech giant backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which spans mobile payments to asset management. The few unicorns the country has birthed are baby-sized. Even Indonesia’s fledgling venture-capital scene, which Korean funds enthusiastically bought into, has churned out bigger startups.In that light, it’s little surprise that President Moon Jae-in is pushing for Korea’s second venture boom in the past two decades, vowing to infuse $12 billion over the next three years. Before billions are deployed, however, it’s worth asking why we’re here in the first place. In a word: regulation.Unicorns often operate in legal grey zones. Ride-hailing firms from Manila to Paris and San Francisco have battled entrenched local interests. There’s a big distinction in South Korea, however, because executives can be personally liable in labor disputes. Last month, prosecutors indicted Lee Jae-woong, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Korea’s answer to Uber, for operating a taxi service without a license — just when Moon was talking up innovation.Pinched by two trade wars and the highest level of youth unemployment in decades, you’d think Moon’s administration would be eager to slash the red tape that hinders its budding gig economy. In Indonesia, for example, taxi startup Go-Jek has become the nation’s largest private-sector employer. But while the government has voiced regret over Lee's indictment, it remains resistant to change.Consider, too, the hurdles faced by digital banks, which bear excessive capital requirements for such a nascent industry. In May, regulators rejected Viva Republica Ltd.’s bid for the nation’s third online banking license, questioning the startup’s ability to raise sufficient capital. Five months later, the unicorn is giving it another try — this time with powerful partners like KEB Hana Bank, one of the country’s biggest lenders — and will lower its stake to 34% from 60.8%.No doubt, capital is a critical factor that allows online banks to thrive. Kakao Corp.’s digital lender, for instance, is gaining users faster than smaller competitor KT Corp.-run K bank, after raising 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion) of capital within the first two years of operation. But in the banking world, it’s the capital ratio, not the absolute level, that should concern regulators. Startups should be able to grow assets at their own pace as long as their exposure to risky assets is in line with traditional commercial banks. So why not open the floor to competition?Meanwhile, there’s a sense that chaebol reform, which ushered Moon to office in 2017, has stalled. Rather than overhauling its sprawling family-run conglomerates, the administration has come crawling back to the likes of Samsung Electronics Co. for jobs and capital investment as the economy slows. Joh Sung-wook, who replaced “chaebol sniper” Kim Sang-jo at the helm of Korea’s antitrust watchdog in September, is instead setting her sights on data monopolies and tech giants such as Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc.This is bad news. Thanks to their exclusive contracts, chaebol can squeeze profits along the supply chain, which strains Korea Inc.’s will and ability to innovate, says Sangin Park, professor of economics at Seoul National University. By now, he sees no policy difference between this government and that of its predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who wound up getting impeached after investigations into her cozy relationships with chaebol, Samsung chief among them.South Korea’s secret sauce used to be process innovation, as Samsung made semiconductors better and quicker than international rivals and Hyundai Motor Co. streamlined auto manufacturing. Times have changed. These days, we want all the trappings of a sharing economy, complete with connected cars and technology-driven financing. Stiff regulation and rigid chaebol supply chains are cages that stifle unicorns. So President Moon, set them free.To contact the author of this story: Shuli Ren at sren38@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Rosenthal at rrosenthal21@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. She previously wrote on markets for Barron's, following a career as an investment banker, and is a CFA charterholder.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Oilprice.com
The Death Of Cars Has Been Exaggerated
Automotive giants are positioning themselves for a future where the production and sale of vehicles isn’t as profitable, but that change isn’t happening anytime soon
- Benzinga
Borderlands: Appetite For Avocados Stirs Gang Violence In Mexico; Corona Beer To Be Brewed In China
Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. In the Mexican city of Uruapan, an avocado producer was recently shot to death in his car as he drove home.
- Financial Times
Hyundai Card $2bn IPO timing set to slip as focus turns offshore
The potential $2bn listing of Hyundai’s credit card unit looks set to slip towards 2021 as the South Korean group tries to boost its value via expansion into south-east Asia and the launch of a new artificial intelligence system. Last month, Hyundai Card, majority owned by Hyundai group companies, invited brokerages to pitch for roles in a possible IPO, spurred by a group of international investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Hong Kong-based Affinity Equity Partners looking to exit the company.
- Moody's
Hyundai Steel Company -- Moody's revises outlook on Hyundai Steel to negative
Moody's Investors Service has changed the outlook on Hyundai Steel Company's rating to negative from stable. At the same time, Moody's has affirmed Hyundai Steel's Baa2 issuer rating. "The negative outlook reflects the increasing likelihood that Hyundai Steel's financial leverage will remain elevated over the next 12-18 months, because sluggish conditions in the domestic and Asian steel industry will continue to strain its profitability," says Sean Hwang, a Moody's Analyst.
- Oilprice.com
Flying Taxis Are About To Overcome Their Biggest Obstacle
Flying taxis are coming to a city near you, and their biggest backers aren’t the hundreds of shiny startups that have captured the imagination of Silicon Valley
- Benzinga
Hyundai Looking For Opportunity In US Market
The news this week that Hyundai Motor Company is planning a hydrogen-powered tractor for global markets, including the U.S., could be the beginning of a larger presence for the company into North America. Already a player in commercial vehicles elsewhere in the world, Hyundai is looking for new markets, and it is doing so by making its bet on the future of hydrogen. When asked by FreightWaves whether the HDC-6 Neptune concept truck would be the beginning of a larger Hyundai presence with additional truck models – either hydrogen or non-hydrogen – in North America, chief executive Edward Lee was cautious in his response.
- Bloomberg
Even the Quants Are Wary of the Stock Market
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The S&P 500 Index was little changed one day after setting a new record. That makes perfect sense. The market just capped one of its strongest periods of the year, having risen a little more than 5% over the previous three weeks. It’s as good a time as any to reassess the broad landscape. And when they do, traders will find that the primary drivers behind the rally remain firmly in place.To be clear, this has nothing to do with things like irrational exuberance or animal spirits. Rather, the most attractive aspect of the market is the fact that almost nobody believes in it, leaving a lot of cash on the sidelines to come pouring in when the traditional drivers of equities like rising earnings and a stronger economy come back into play. The latest evidence that there is no conviction in the market came in a report by Credit Suisse Group AG’s prime brokerage, which showed that market-neutral quantitative funds had cut their gross stock allocations to the lowest in almost five years. That dovetails with one of the more comprehensive measures of investor sentiment: State Street Global Markets’ monthly index, which is derived from actual trades and covers 15% of the world’s tradeable assets. It shows that investors this year have been less confident in the outlook for equities than even during the financial crisis. And despite this year’s big gains in equities, investors continue to put money into cash. Money-fund assets stood at $3.49 trillion as of last Wednesday, up from $2.88 trillion a year earlier, according to the Investment Company Institute.All this negative sentiment is about the only thing the stock market has going for it at the moment. UBS Group AG equity strategists led by Francois Trahan published a research note titled “If History Were a Perfect Guide … Stocks Would Be in a World of Trouble Here.” In that report, the strategists forecast that the expected rate of 12-month earnings growth will turn negative in coming months, reports Bloomberg News’s Vildana Hajric.A WARNING ON RATE FUTURESWhenever the Federal Reserve concludes a monetary policy meeting and announces its decision, the knee-jerk reaction is to look at the reaction in futures to gain a sense of where the market sees interest rates heading and trading accordingly. Doing so on Wednesday, though, could prove to be a costly mistake. Jim Bianco of Bianco Research pointed out in a note to clients on Tuesday that market-based measures calculating the probability of future Fed actions have become distorted and unusually volatile because of the disruptions in the repo markets. Things are so bad that the Fed has been forced to step in and provide daily liquidity injections. And U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that he is open to loosening financial crisis-era regulations that have stiffened liquidity rules for big banks to relieve possible cash crunches in short-term funding markets. This all impacts the effective federal funds rate, which is heavily influenced by repo rates. Bianco figures that the number of Fed rate cuts implied by the futures markets has vacillated between 4.08 and 0.68 since mid-September. “The consensus forming in the market is the Fed will cut tomorrow and signal they are done,” Bianco wrote in the note. “While this seems a likely scenario, it is worth noting the market’s true odds of further cuts are likely understated due to the liquidity problems in the repo market.”DON’T FORGET ABOUT CANADAThere’s also a central bank meeting in Canada on Wednesday. Unlike the Fed, the Bank of Canada isn’t forecast to ease monetary policy, keeping its benchmark rate at 1.75%. If true, then Canada will be home to the highest policy rate among the world’s major economies, according to Bloomberg News’s Theophilos Argitis. (The Fed’s new rate will probably be in a range of 1.50% to 1.75% if it cuts.) One reason policy makers in Canada are unlikely to reduce rates is because core inflation has been stable near the Bank of Canada’s 2% target for more than a year. This helps account for the strength in Canada’s dollar. The so-called loonie has advanced about 7.50% this year to its strongest since early 2015 against a basket of nine developed-market peers. That gain is the strongest of the group. And traders are confident that it could rise further. The three-month risk reversal rate, which is a barometer of investor positioning and long-term sentiment, is the most bullish for the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar since 2009, according to Bloomberg News’ Robert Fullem. Even so, it’s not as if Canada’s economy is going gangbusters. Economists expect growth to slow to 1.5% over the next two years, slightly below potential. The bulls need to aware that the Bank of Canada will provide an update to its outlook on Wednesday, and any downbeat forecasts may hit the loonie especially hard given its recent gains.THE WON IS WINNINGIt was just a few months ago that many pundits were pointing to South Korea as proof the global economy was in serious trouble. The Asian nation is a bellwether for global trade and technology, with its economy heavily dependent on exports from such global giants as Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. And back then, exports were dropping fast, helping to push the won to its weakest level since early 2016. Now, though, the won is looking up in what may a sign that the global economy may not be in as bad a shape as thought. South Korea’s currency has appreciated 5.08% since mid-August, making it the best performer after the U.K. pound among 31 of the most widely traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg. But all these good vibes may be premature. The South Korean government is forecast to say Thursday that exports dropped 13.5% in October, the 11th consecutive monthly decline. So why is the won rising? According to Morgan Stanley, it may have more to do with a rapid jump in the nation’s bond yields, which have attracted foreign investment. Yields on the nation’s 10-year notes have jumped about 0.6 percentage point to 1.79%. Yields on government debt globally have only increased about 0.2 percentage point to 0.88% in the same period, according to the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Treasuries Index. In a world with about $14 trillion of negative yield debt, anything that pays a premium rate is going to attract capital.WINTER IS COMINGThe market for natural gas just strung together its best two-day period since January, soaring as much as 14.8%. That’s good for those who are long natural gas but not so much for those dreading the arrival of cooler weather in the U.S. The reason is because the rally has a lot to do with forecasts for a frigid start to November, according to Bloomberg News’s Kriti Gupta. This weekend in New York, for example, the temperature is forecast to dip below 40 degrees Farenheit (4.44 Celcius). As Gupta points out, the jump in natural gas prices offers some relief to long-suffering bulls. Even with the latest gains, prices are still down more than 20% from a year ago and have been mired below $3 per million British thermal units as record production refills storage caverns ahead of the winter. As such, the bulls may need a long stretch of below-average cold weather to keep gas prices aloft this winter. Stockpiles are above normal heading into the peak heating season, erasing a deficit that had widened to more than 30% below the five-year average earlier this year, according to Gupta. Production from shale basins is near an all-time high, buoyed by output from West Texas’s Permian Basin, where gas is extracted as a byproduct of crude oil.TEA LEAVESBefore the Fed announces its decision on interest rates Wednesday, market participants will get their first look at how the economy performed in the third quarter when the Commerce Department releases its estimate of gross domestic product for the three months ending Sept. 30. This will probably be one of those times when the headline numbers matter less than the report’s details. Most everyone is in agreement that growth slowed markedly last quarter, with the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg calling for a slowdown to 1.6% on an annualized basis from 2% in the second quarter. But what’s most likely to get the most attention is what the report says about personal consumption, which rose at an outsized 4.6% rate in the second quarter, underscoring the strength of the consumer as manufacturing began to falter. Economists are looking for an increase of 2.6% for the third quarter, which is more in line with the average of 2.4% since the economy emerged from the last recession. Any number that disappoints to the downside is likely to have investors rethinking their renewed appetite for equities are other risky assets.DON’T MISS Fed Wants a Break. Will Bond Traders Allow It?: Brian Chappatta Wealth Tax Would Make the U.S. Economy Less Dynamic: Karl Smith Tech and Manufacturing Look Ready to Trade Places: Conor Sen What the Pound is Saying About Jeremy Corbyn: Marcus Ashworth Italian Debt Risk Is Back With a Vengeance: Ferdinando GiuglianoTo contact the author of this story: Robert Burgess at bburgess@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Niemi at dniemi1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Robert Burgess is an editor for Bloomberg Opinion. He is the former global executive editor in charge of financial markets for Bloomberg News. As managing editor, he led the company’s news coverage of credit markets during the global financial crisis.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
Hyundai Motor replaces head of premium Genesis brand
Hyundai Motor on Tuesday named its former North American chief, William Lee, to oversee its premium Genesis brand following the departure of Manfred Fitzgerald to pursue new opportunities. Lee faces the challenge of rejuvenating Genesis sales in the U.S. market and making headway in Europe and China, both tough markets to crack for luxury car sales. "The company expects Mr. Lee, in his new capacity, to lead the brand's further global expansion by leveraging his overseas business operations expertise," Hyundai said in a statement.
- Reuters
GM, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler seek to intervene in California emissions suit
Major automakers including General Motors Co, Toyota Motor Corp, Hyundai Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are asking to intervene in a lawsuit filed by 23 U.S. states last month, the companies said on Monday. The automakers are seeking to intervene on behalf of the Trump administration after California and 22 other states sued in September to undo the Trump administration's determination that federal law bars California from setting stiff tailpipe emission standards and zero-emission vehicle mandates. Other automakers including Ford Motor Co, Honda Motor Co and Volkswagen AG, which announced a voluntary deal with California in July on emissions rules, are not joining the effort to intervene.
- Reuters
Hyundai to start autonomous sharing ride-sharing service in California
The South Korean carmaker will team up with Pony.ai, a self-driving start-up, and mobility service provider Via to build a fleet of at least 10 Kona electric sport-utility vehicles to provide autonomous ride-sharing services called BotRide in Irvine, California. Sequoia Capital China-backed Pony.ai, which has a partnership with Toyota, will build self-driving systems with Hyundai, while Via will develop mobile phone applications for the service, the companies said.
- MarketWatch
Hyundai Motor profit rises 51%, but misses expectations
Hyundai Motor said brisk sales of its new sports-utility vehicles in the U.S. and Europe helped boost revenue and earnings while demand from China remained weak.
- Reuters
Hyundai targets EV sales of over half a million by 2025, posts disappointing third-quarter
South Korea's Hyundai Motor pledged to boost sales of electric vehicles (EV) to over half a million by 2025 as part of a bid to focus on new technologies and catch up with rivals, but some analysts saw the target as conservative and warned of the costs. The announcement by Hyundai , the world's fifth largest car maker along with affiliate Kia Motors , underscores the accelerating strategy shift under Euisun Chung who became the motor group's executive vice chairman last year. Hyundai announced a $35 billion investment last week in mobility and other auto technologies by 2025, less than a month after unveiling a $1.6 billion deal to develop self-driving vehicle technologies with Aptiv .
- Benzinga
Hyundai Readies Fuel Cell Heavy-Duty Truck And Eco-Friendly Reefer
Hyundai Motor Co. is expanding its fuel cell ambitions to heavy-duty trucks and trailers with a pair of concepts for next week's North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta. The South Korean automaker ...
- South China Morning Post
U-turn: China is letting Hyundai buy out a joint carmaking venture
Beijing is letting Hyundai Group, the South Korean carmaker, gain full ownership of one of its mainland operations " a rare move by China to cede its stake in a joint venture with a foreign company, the South China Morning Post has learned.The action comes as Beijing, now in a bruising trade dispute with Washington, has pledged to provide fairer competition for foreign corporations in the Chinese market.Hyundai Group has several joint ventures in China, including operations in Beijing and Sichuan. Sichuan Hyundai, which makes large vehicles like buses and heavy trucks, intends to attain full ownership in its China operation, buying all shares held by its Chinese joint-venture partner."We are considering a range of options, including acquiring shares [of the Chinese joint venture]," Lee Sang-eun, a spokeswoman of Hyundai Motors in Seoul, said in response to a query.Hyundai Motor's logo at the Shanghai auto show in April. Photo: Reuters alt=Hyundai Motor's logo at the Shanghai auto show in April. Photo: Reuters"[But] nothing is concrete at the moment; the final decision will be dependent on future market situations," the spokeswoman added, without elaboration.A Hyundai senior official in Seoul, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said his company aimed to complete the acquisition by the end of this year or early next year.Hyundai formed a 50-50 joint venture in 2012 with the Sichuan Nanjun Automobile Group (SNAG). One of its production lines is in Ziyang, Sichuan province and is expected to be capable of assembling 700,000 vehicles a year by 2020.The Chinese half is owned by Sichuan Junyu Property Company; SNAG owns 80 per cent of its shares, according to China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.A legal professional in Beijing, who had consulted for the Hyundai Group in 2016, said the South Korean conglomerate was "frustrated" about its intellectual property rights in China. Legal experts had advised the South Korean carmaker to restructure its joint venture deal with its Chinese partner, this person said.Sichuan Nanjun Automobile Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.A separate joint venture, Beijing Hyundai, which produces sedans and SUVs like the Sonata and Santa Fe, is not affected by the deal and will continue in its original ownership structure.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, shown in Beijing on Friday meeting with members of an international consultive committee on advanced manufacturing, has been encouraging more foreign investment. Photo: Xinhua alt=Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, shown in Beijing on Friday meeting with members of an international consultive committee on advanced manufacturing, has been encouraging more foreign investment. Photo: XinhuaHyundai and SNAG's plan comes as Beijing " now in the 16th month of a bitter trade war with Washington " aims to show it can provide a fairer market for foreign companies.Other South Korean companies have left the country as they hit a wall in China. Samsung, the consumer electronics giant, last month closed its last mobile phone production line in China, in Huizhou, and the company is also considering moving some of its television manufacturing from China to Vietnam, according to a company insider.South Korean chaebol (family-owned) conglomerates, including the retailer Lotte, are also winding down their China businesses because of political risks and to avoid tariffs on exports of their China-made products to the United States.But they are also leaving because Chinese firms have become much more competitive in the domestic market that South Korean companies had found so fruitful for more than a decade " a fate which could befall Western companies eyeing China's burgeoning middle-class consumer market.Earlier this year, Beijing passed a law that would replace existing regulations for joint ventures, allegedly providing foreign investors with more flexibility and strengthening protections of their intellectual property rights. The intent, in part, was to slow the further exodus of foreign capital from the country.A Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful test. South Korea's agreement to deploy the system resulted in a breach in its relations with China. Photo: US Defence Department via Reuters alt=A Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful test. South Korea's agreement to deploy the system resulted in a breach in its relations with China. Photo: US Defence Department via ReutersIndeed, last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the Samsung Electronics chip production plant in Xian, where he emphasised that "China welcomes hi-tech companies from all over the world, including Samsung, to continue expanding their investment in China".Benjamin Cavender, a managing director at Shanghai-based China Market Research Group, suggested that the Chinese sale of its shares to Hyundai could be a sign of Beijing's bid to maintain or draw further foreign investment as its car industry matures.He noted that Tesla, the American electric-vehicle maker, had made a similar move last year, becoming the first foreign company to build its own production plant in China."I think this step, along with the government's greenlighting of Tesla's factory outside Shanghai, are indicators of a further opening of sectors where the government feels that Chinese firms can now be competitive," Cavender said."China's auto industry is now robust enough that the government can slowly give full control of operations to foreign players."Hyundai's plan also suggests that ties are warming between China and South Korea, after a weapons system deployment had caused a breach.Watch: When South Korea deployed the US' THAAD missile systemRelations between China and South Korea"" never especially robust"" frayed and tensions escalated after Seoul agreed in 2016 to a long-standing US request to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD) on South Korean soil.While both Washington and Seoul said it was intended to counter threats from North Korea, Beijing regarded THAAD as a security risk, since its radar had the range to monitor China's nearby military facilities.After its deployment in 2017, THAAD triggered widespread boycotts of South Korean firms in China, with state-owned media acting as aggressive cheerleaders. In particular Lotte, which had sold Seoul land on which the system's radar and interceptor missiles were set up, was sanctioned by Beijing, and the retailer's Chinese expansion plans ground to a halt.Beijing is "perhaps eager to make amends with Seoul after their bruising 2016 battle over THAAD," said Sean King, a former US trade official who is now senior vice-president of political strategy firm Park Strategies."I think mainland China is [also] eager for external capital and expertise [in general]. And in the midst of its still-continuing trade and investment uncertainty with the United States, it's likely looking to tap as many foreign sources as possible " to diversify its options, as it were," King added.Washington and Beijing recently announced a truce in the trade war, ostensibly reaching a deal that includes intellectual property protections and Chinese purchases of US agricultural products worth as much as US$50 billion.Protesters turned out in Jilin in northeast China on March 5, 2017, to support a boycott of South Korean goods. Photo: AFP alt=Protesters turned out in Jilin in northeast China on March 5, 2017, to support a boycott of South Korean goods. Photo: AFPExperts note that it is too soon to assess the impact of Beijing's efforts to relax the restrictions for foreign companies."The question is going to be whether these measures are selective or actually represent large-scale change to policy in China," Cavender said."In the case of Hyundai, there is little risk to giving control back to Hyundai, as the operation has struggled to be profitable."Sichuan Hyundai sold slightly more than 2,000 vehicles from January to August, a steep drop from three years ago, when it sold nearly 40,000 over the full year. The Hyundai official in Seoul agreed with Cavender, saying that Sichuan Hyundai has long been "suffering from a significant loss of the market share" in China's market."[China's] intention may be on forfeiting its responsibility of a company that has long been suffering from a deficit," the official said.Cavender also noted that the Chinese government is trying to maintain a "balancing act".Beijing, he said, "needs to go a lot farther in creating a balanced operating environment, not just for foreign firms looking at China, but also for Chinese start-ups that in many cases struggle to get the funding they need or that have to compete in an environment where SOEs [state-owned enterprises] still receive a lot of benefits."However, SOEs still account for a high percentage of jobs in China, so there is a lot of pushback against heavy reform."This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Reuters
Hyundai Motor may raise stake in China joint venture
Hyundai Motor said on Tuesday it was considering raising its stake in its underperforming truck joint venture in China, potentially joining other foreign automakers in boosting ownership in the world's biggest car market. Sichuan Hyundai Motor is Hyundai's only commercial car venture in China that makes cargo trucks and buses. Beijing relaxed rules last year on foreign firms controlling any Chinese automakers or joint venture, removing caps on those making fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
- GuruFocus.com
Tweedy Browne Global Value Fund's 3rd-Quarter Sells
Global investment fund sells its shares of key cyclicals Continue reading...
