By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

Kumho Asiana, Hyundai Heavy Industries and LG groups ― members of the country's top 10 business conglomerates, called chaebol ― saw their cash reserves dwindle during the first nine months of the year.

The Korea Exchange (KRX), the Seoul bourse operator, said Monday that the 10 groups combined to increase their cash or cash equivalents by 5 trillion won, or 11.4 percent, over the first three quarters.

However, Kumho Asiana experienced a freefall in cash reserves from 3.9 trillion won last year to 1.2 trillion won in September. Hyundai Heavy and LG faced downturns of 54.1 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.

``Companies listed on the Seoul bourse have built up war chests throughout this year in the wake of the global financial crisis. The 555 firms surveyed cranked up their cash by 17.1 percent on average during the nine-month period,'' a KRX official aid.

``Generally speaking, they have been reluctant to spend money on large-scale investments. Some chaebol faced a lack of cash due to slumping businesses or due to aggressive investments,'' he said.

No one from Kumho was available for comment but the cash-strapped group has suffered a set of hitches in the aftermath of the financial crisis and tried to dispose of some of its units to restore its cash reserves.

Hyundai Heavy representatives put their fingers on the struggling shipbuilding industry while LG claimed that rising facility investment undercut its cash. The group jacked up facility investment to 12.3 trillion won this year, from 11.7 trillion won last year.

This is comparable to POSCO Group, which more than doubled its cash reserves from 2.5 trillion won to 5.4 trillion won; Lotte Group also raised its reserves by 87.9 percent to 2.8 trillion won.

The nation's primary chaebol, Samsung, topped the list in the overall amounts of cash at 13.6 trillion won, with Hyundai Automotive Group as runner-up at 10.2 trillion won.

SK and POSCO groups followed with 5.9 trillion won and 5.4 trillion won, each, while LG Group slid one slot to fifth with 5.2 trillion won.

By individual companies, Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of memory chips and flat-panel displays, boasted of the highest cash reserves at 8 trillion won in September.

Hyundai Motor, Korea's foremost automaker, came in second with 5.7 trillion won followed by POSCO with 5.3 trillion won, SK Energy with 2.8 trillion won and LG Display with 2.6 trillion won.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr