Hyundai Motor India to file for IPO in June: reports

Hyundai Motor Co. plans to file for an initial public offering of its wholly owned Indian subsidiary as early as June to raise up to $3 billion in what could be the largest-ever IPO in India, according to foreign media reports.

To speed up its stock market debut, the South Korean carmaker recently added Morgan Stanley and Kotak Mahindra Bank as advisors on its potential IPO, Indian news outlet Moneycontrol reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

They will join Citigroup Global Markets, JPMorgan and HSBC Securities to work for the IPO.

The report came a day after International Financing Review, a London-based financial magazine, said that Hyundai Motor India Ltd. plans to file a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), an initial document for an IPO application, with the Securities and Exchange Board of India either by the end of June or July.

In February, Reuters reported that Hyundai Motor India was in the early stages of talks to go public later this year to raise at least $3 billion.

The IPO size, if confirmed, will likely surpass the $2.7 billion raised by Life Insurance Corp. of India in May 2022 and mark the country’s largest IPO.

The reported IPO plan for Hyundai Motor India seemed to have gained momentum after the automotive group Chairman and Chief Executive Chung Euisun visited the Indian operations in April.

During the visit, he held a town hall meeting with employees there to share medium- to long-term strategies for the Indian unit.

In response to the IPO reports, Hyundai Motor on Tuesday reiterated that it is constantly looking into various options, including taking overseas units public, but nothing has been determined.

The automaker is tipped to spend around $3.3 billion to expand its manufacturing facilities in India over the coming year.

It established the Indian arm in 1996. The subsidiary has been performing well.

In the first quarter of this year, its net profit leapt 21% to 267.3 billion won ($197 million) from the same period last year. Sales climbed 13.2% to 2.8 trillion won over the same period.

Hyundai Motor is the second largest carmaker in India after Maruti Suzuki, a joint venture between India’s Marut Udyong Ltd. and Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp.

In 2023, Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. under Hyundai Motor Group became South Korea's highest earners, buoyed by robust sales of pricey cars under the Genesis brand, sport utility vehicles and eco-friendly cars.

Write to Jung-Eun Shin at newyearis@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.