Editorial & Advertiser disclosure

Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.

Business

Kia shares rise after report says still scope for Apple partnership

Published by linker 5

Posted on February 26, 2021

Featured image for article about Business

By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) – Shares in Kia Corp rose as much as 8.1% on Friday after a South Korean online news site said there was still potential for the automaker to form a partnership with Apple Inc.

Shares in Hyundai Motor Co and its affiliate Kia were roiled earlier this year after Hyundai initially confirmed early stage talks with the tech-giant on autonomous electric cars, but later said they were no longer in talks.

Online site Chosun Biz said on Friday that Apple and Kia had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last year and had agreed to pursue cooperation in eight sectors, including electric vehicles. It said negotiations on electric vehicles had not been completely cancelled.

“Even if the negotiations on electric vehicles fail, there are many items that can be negotiated in other fields, so we are still optimistic about the possibility of partnership between the two sides,” Chosun cited an unnamed source familiar with negotiations between Hyundai and Apple as saying.

Aside from electric vehicles, Kia and Apple are also discussing cooperation in “last mile” mobility, or transport to complete a final short distance to a destination after using another means of transportation, Chosun said.

A Hyundai Motor Group spokesperson and Apple had no immediate comment.

Analysts said the wording of Hyundai’s statement earlier this month, that it was not in discussions with Apple about developing “autonomous vehicles”, had left open possibilities of cooperation in other fields.

“The media report on Kia-Apple cooperation does not negate Hyundai’s statement earlier this month, since the statement was limited to a certain item,” said Kevin Yoo, an analyst at eBEST Investment & Securities.

“The ‘last mile’ mobility mentioned in the article is similar to Kia’s plan to strengthen its purpose-built vehicle business, which Kia said during its investor day event earlier this month,” he added.

The rise in Kia shares was in sharp contrast to the wider market’s 2.6% drop as of 0221 GMT. Kia was among only about 90 gainers, versus nearly 800 losers, on the KOSPI.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; additional reporting by Cynthia Kim; editing by Richard Pullin)