Sons of Hyosung chairman vying for stakes in flagship firm

Two sons of the chairman of Hyosung Group, a South Korean family-run conglomerate, are competing to secure stakes in the group's flagship company Hyosung Corp. in a bid to gain control of the group's management, industry sources and data said Tuesday. According to regulatory filing, Cho Hyun-jun, the eldest son of Cho Suk-rai, chief executive of Hyosung and the group's chairman, increased his stakes in the flagship company to 9.14 percent from 8.55 percent by buying 206,804 shares last month. Hyosung, a South Korean maker of textiles and heavy machinery, has about 60 subsidiaries at home and abroad under its wing. His stake purchases widened the gap between him and his second youngest brother Cho Hyun-sang, who holds the second-largest stake in the company at 8.76 percent. Hyun-sang serves as president of Hyosung, while his younger brother works as the company's vice president. Their competition for stake purchases aimed at securing the group's managerial rights has heated up since Cho Hyun-moon, the chairman's second eldest son and former vice president of Hysoung, threw his hand in and stepped down from his post in February. Hyun-sang scooped up the Hyosung shares sold by Hyun-moon, raising his stake to 8.54 percent from 7.9 percent in March. Hyun-jun also increased his stake in Hyosung to 7.78 percent from 7.26 percent in March after the stake purchases by Hyun-sang. Market watchers, however, said that it is too early to predict who is in a stronger position to gain the group's managerial rights as the gap between the two sons is too small.