Hyundai Engineering To Lay Off Executives, Close Units

ByBridgeNews Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co., an affiliate of the Hyundai Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, said it plans to lay off 30% of its top management and close six subsidiaries at home and abroad. The reorganization followed last week's announcement of a strengthened reform plan under which Hyundai Engineering will raise an additional 581 billion won (US$511 million) by the end of 2000. In the plan outlined Oct. 23, Hyundai Engineering will lay off 41 of its 139 upper-level management staff, including six vice presidents and 12 executive directors, as well as dismissing 22 out of 116 existing deputy directors, a company spokesman said. It also decided to spin-off or sell its steel-frame production unit while merging its technical management unit with the engineering division. But Hyundai Engineering will continue operating its four major regional headquarters in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and Dubai on an independent accounting base. Hyundai Engineering has been at the center of the market's concerns over the giant Hyundai Group's financial problems, with creditors calling in loans from the company.