By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
As the economic engine starts to sputter once again after the unprecedented global financial crisis, Korea's conglomerates, dubbed chaebol, regained their values in the Seoul bourse to their pre-crisis levels.
However, there are two outstanding exceptions ― Hyundai Heavy Industries and Kumho Asiana groups saw almost a quarter of their market capitalization gone amid the tumultuous period.
The Korea Exchange said Sunday that the overall market capitalization of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group amounted to 22.4 trillion won on Sept. 12 last year, just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers to herald the peak of the financial distress.
However, the values of the world's primary shipbuilder plummeted by 24.5 percent during the past year to 16.9 trillion won as of the end of last month.
Kumho Asiana Group, which has the nation's runner-up carrier Asiana Airline under its wings, also suffered a 24.5 percent drop in stock values over the one-year period from 11.6 trillion won to 8.7 trillion won.
Also included in the underachievers' list are SK and Hanjin groups that experienced a yearly decline of 2.8 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.
``Have a look at the biggest losers. They are destined to slump because their go-to industries were particularly vulnerable to the economic turmoil,'' said a Seoul analyst, who declined to be named.
`` The shipbuilding industry faced a fiasco, which hit Hyundai Heavy. The reduced air tourists also heavily weighed on flag carriers of Kumho Asiana and Hanjin throughout the past year,'' he said.
In comparison, Hyundai Automotive Group chalked up a 53.5 percent appreciation in the Seoul bourse from 38 trillion won to 58.3 trillion won as the automaker fared well in the global markets.
Two electronics heavyweights of LG and Samsung groups followed with 35.6 percent and 33.1 percent rise in market capitalization, apiece.
LG Group boasts of such flagship affiliates as the country's foremost home appliance maker LG Electronics and chemical product maker LG Chem.
Samsung Group has under its arms such iconic companies as Samsung Electronics, the world's leading memory chip and flat-panel display producer, Samsung SDI and Samsung Life Insurance.
``Groups comprising competitive carmakers or electronic goods manufacturers have not only survived the financial tsunami but also thrived after the disaster faded away,'' the anonymous analyst said.
``For them, the financial crisis was a blessing in disguise because they could climb up the ladder of the global rankings in the midst of the chaos created by the very crisis,'' he said.
Unique to Asia's fourth-largest economy, chaebol refers to the sprawling conglomerates in which founding families exercise almost unchecked control despite small direct shareholdings. Samsung Group is the biggest one here.