HDC Group, a spin-off from Korea’s famous Hyundai and Chung family group that has expanded to financial and resort business through the wealth made from buildings it erected across the nation over the last two decades, vowed to recreate its image as mobility group after adding a full-service air carrier to its portfolio.

“HDC has been joining various port construction projects with duty-free shops and hotel businesses. The marriage between HDC and Asiana Airlines could create great synergy as a mobility group,” Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of HDC Holdings, HDC Group’s holding company, said during a press conference on Tuesday after the HDC Hyundai Development-Mirae Asset Daewoo consortium was named the preferred bidder of Korea’s second largest full-service carrier.

The HDC Hyundai Development and Mirae Asset Daewoo team beat out the Aekyung-Stone Bridge alliance after handing in the highest bid of over 2.4 trillion won ($2.1 billion) for Asiana Airlines, about 500 billion won higher than its rival and what the creditors had sought for.

The generous offering has underscored eagerness of Chung to win over the carrier, market insiders said.

With an airline under its control, Chung hopes to create a mobility giant that he and his father had dreamed of with auto-making Hyundai Motor, which was under his father’s control but failed to achieve it after his cousin Chung Mong-koo took over Hyundai Motor.

Chung started his career at Hyundai Motor and succeeded former Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Se-yung, his father who built the car-making business and left bold traces in the country’s whole automotive history.

He served as chairman of the automaker for three years since 1996 and handed over the baton to current head of Chung Mong-koo when the former Hyundai Group split into several parts in 1999.

Chung then took the helm of HDC Hyundai Development and raised its asset to some-10 trillion won, the industry’s 10th largest in Korea.

Chung’s latest bid is also part of efforts to run a stable business, not swayed by changes in the economy or government policies. The bidding partner Mirae Asset Group Park Hyun-joo advised him to throw an unimaginable bid when he is longing for a company, helping Chung make the bold decision.

It came from his own experience that Park successfully took over KDB Daewoo Securities with the highest bid of 2.4 trillion won in 2015 and created the industry’s No. 1 Mirae Asset Daewoo.

HDC Group aims to close the acquisition deal within this year to fast create a new aviation brand with corporate restructuring. Chung ordered the brand naming work immediately after it was picked as the preferred bidder on Tuesday, according to the group.

“Asiana Airlines has raised its brand awareness in a good way, and the name will not be erased. We’re thinking over how to keep the balance on both HDC and Asiana names,” said Chung.

HDC Group, which transformed into a holding entity structure last year, has attached the HDC name to all its affiliated units, excluding Real Estate 114 Inc., an online real estate information database provider.

Asiana Airlines signed its ‘wing’ trademark contract with Kumho Industrial first in 2007 and renewed it every year. The right to use the trademark ends April 20 next year and the carrier pays 14.367 billion won, or 0.2 percent of its monthly revenue, for its trademark use this year to Kumho Industrial.

Since Chung promised to keep the Asiana brand, the carrier is mostly likely to add HDC to its name.

By Han Woo-ram, Lee Sun-hee and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]