U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management made new propositions to restructure Hyundai Motor Group on Friday, renewing pressure on the South Korean conglomerate months after forcing it to abandon its own strategy.
Elliott, which owns $1.5 billion worth of shares in three Hyundai group companies, called for a committee to evaluate its proposals with other investors and experts, and stated its attempts to talk about a new plan had been met with silence.
Hyundai declined the committee idea and said that it hoped “to share our thoughts on how to improve shareholder value with all of our shareholders in due course”.
A person familiar with Hyundai Motor Group informed Reuters “it’s difficult for Hyundai to accept Elliott’s proposal, as it mainly benefits Hyundai Motor”.
He stated the company is listening to a number of opinions to come up with a new proposal, but no choice had been made.
In a rare victory for an activist shareholder located in South Korea, Elliott and other shareholders in May prompted Hyundai to scrap its own plans to revamp which would have prepared the group for a switch of management from father to son.
The setback for Hyundai, the nation’s second-largest business group, came amid growing public scrutiny of families heading large conglomerates in South Korea after a corruption scandal associating the Samsung Group last year.
