Hyundai v. Hyundai: In-house fight for HMM

Hyundai v. Hyundai: In-house fight for HMM    Two rival South Korean conglomerates are continuing their battle for control of the container line Hyundai Merchant Marine, according to a report Friday by Bloomberg.
   Hyundai Heavy Industries and the Hyundai Group are part of what the report called a 'divided empire.' Hyundai Heavy, which owns a 23.8 percent stake in HMM, and a clutch of other shareholders all related to one side of the Hyundai empire, last week rejected a plan to increase the line's preferred stock sales limit.
   The Hyundai Group said in a filing with the stock exchange in Seoul it would raise its stake in HMM to 22.6 percent as it seeks to knock back an attempt by Hyundai Heavy to assume control of the line.
   'The action by Hyundai Heavy today shows that Hyundai Heavy hasn't given up its ambition to take over Hyundai Merchant,' the Hyundai Group said in the statement. 'They have also blocked Hyundai Merchant's plan to invest in the future and that could eventually undermine shareholders' value.'
   In a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg, Hyundai Heavy: 'We opposed the plan because it wouldn't be in the best interest of the shareholders, nothing more or less. If the company really needs the money, they can always use the 120 million of common shares available to them.'
   According to the Hyundai Group, HMM planned to use the catch earned from the preferred stock sales to fund ship purchases.
   HMM is the world's 18th-largest liner carrier by fleet size, according to Alphaliner, and has only five vessels (representing roughly 65,000 TEUs of capacity) on order. That's fewer than all but two of the top 20 carriers.