HDC Hyundai Development Company to Appeal After Losing 250 Billion KRW Deposit Dispute with Asiana Airlines

Court: "Asiana Airlines Has No Obligation to Return Received Deposit"
HDC Hyundai Development Company: "Regret... Will Actively Respond Including Appeal After Reviewing Judgment"

HDC Hyundai Development Company announced on the 17th that it intends to appeal the ruling on the lawsuit filed by Kumho Construction and Asiana Airlines regarding the confirmation of non-existence of contract deposit refund obligations and the notice of pledge extinction.

HDC Hyundai Development Company expressed regret that "the negative impacts caused by the seller's fault during the acquisition process of Asiana Airlines were not sufficiently reflected in the ruling," and stated, "We will carefully review the judgment and actively respond, including filing an appeal, for the shareholders and stakeholders."

On the same day, the 16th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Moon Seong-gwan) ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, Asiana Airlines and Kumho Construction, in the lawsuit against HDC Hyundai Development Company and Mirae Asset Securities regarding the notice of pledge extinction and damages.

The court stated that Asiana Airlines and Kumho Construction do not have the obligation (debt) to return the contract deposit of 250 billion KRW received from HDC Hyundai Development Company and Mirae Asset. Furthermore, the court ordered HDC Hyundai Development Company and Mirae Asset to notify that the pledge on the contract deposit has been extinguished and to pay 1 billion KRW to Asiana Airlines and 500 million KRW to Kumho Construction.

If this ruling is finalized as is, the total contract deposit of 250 billion KRW previously paid by HDC Hyundai Development Company and Mirae Asset Securities will belong to Asiana Airlines and Kumho Construction.

HDC Hyundai Development Company entered the bid to acquire Asiana Airlines in November 2019.

HDC Hyundai Development Company stated, "There were significant changes between Asiana Airlines' standard financial statements and the 2019 year-end financial statements that made it impossible to proceed with the contract," and requested a re-audit. However, Kumho Industrial, the major shareholder of Asiana Airlines, refused the re-examination request, saying, "HDC Hyundai Development Company's acquisition intent is doubtful."

Ultimately, HDC Hyundai Development Company's acquisition of Asiana Airlines was finally canceled in September 2020, and both parties blamed each other for the contract failure, leading to a dispute over the contract deposit paid by HDC Hyundai Development Company and Mirae Asset Securities. The contract deposit totaled 250 billion KRW, including 217.7 billion KRW from Asiana Airlines and 32.3 billion KRW from Kumho Construction.

Asiana Airlines claimed that the contract failed because HDC Hyundai Development Company had no intention to acquire, while HDC Hyundai Development Company argued that the failure was due to Asiana Airlines not providing proper information.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.