Hyundai Oilbank, KDB Financial, Caffe Bene aim for listing on stock market this yearThe IPO market in Korea is poised to attempt a recovery in 2012 with 70 companies led by Hyundai Oilbank waiting in the wings to go public following disappointing performances last year.According to the Korea Exchange, the domestic initial public offering market saw 21 new entrants on KOSPI in 2011, down from 24 in 2010. The number of IPOs on the tech-packed KOSDAQ went down 24 percent on-year to 57. For the new

The profitability of South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Group is fast improving in the European market as the company is selling record numbers of large luxury vehicles there, market observers said Sunday.In 2009, the automotive group sold 579,780 vehicles in Europe,79.5 percent of which were small or medium-size cars. The company’s sales rose to 620,372 units in 2010, but the proportion of small and medium-size vehicles dropped 3.7 percentage points to 75.8 percent.Sales of small and

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s biggest sport-utility vehicle manufacturer, is interested in buying at least parts of bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab Automobile, two people familiar with the situation said.Mahindra, based in Mumbai, is in the process of trying to set up meetings with the two court-appointed administrators who are overseeing Saab’s bankruptcy to possibly buy parts of the carmaker or the whole company, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans are private.

But EV cars unlikely to be a popular option even in a decade, analysts sayThe recently announced government support for electric vehicles has sparked a race to launch homegrown zero-emission cars between Hyundai Motor Group and Renault Samsung. Both have vowed to launch the country’s first mass produced electric car in 2013.Kia Motors Corp., an affiliate of Hyundai, rolled out the all-electric version of its compact car Ray earlier this month and said it will supply a total of 2,500 units to pub