---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Autos
status: done
latency_ms: 148954
conversation_id: 70f6a7d5-c7ef-48c3-bb98-c214f21c4956
citations: 3
created: 2026-05-31 18:21:53Z
---

# Who are the key shareholders of Kia?

## Kia Corporation (000270 KS) — Key Shareholders

Kia is a controlled subsidiary of the Hyundai Motor Group. The shareholder base is dominated by a single strategic block (Hyundai Motor Company + Chairman Chung Eui-sun + affiliates), with the remainder held by domestic institutions (notably National Pension Service), foreign institutional investors, and retail/treasury holdings.

### Most Recent Ownership Picture

**Largest Shareholder — Hyundai Motor Company: 34.53%**

As of June 30, 2025 (most recent semi-annual filing), Kia's largest shareholder is **Hyundai Motor Company**, which holds **34.53%** of the Company's stock issued and outstanding [1]. The figure was unchanged from the December 31, 2024 annual filing, which also disclosed Hyundai Motor Company at 34.53% of issued and outstanding shares [2].

The step-up from the historical ~33.88% raw stake to 34.53% reflects Kia's treasury-share cancellation programs (e.g., the 3,319,144 share cancellation on May 4, 2023 done for "shareholder value enhancement"), which mechanically lifted percentage ownership for all existing holders [3].

### Controlling-Shareholder Group (Hyundai Motor + Affiliated Parties)

Per the Korean DART annual filing (사업보고서) for FY2023, the "largest shareholder and specially-related persons" collectively own **35.92%** of Kia, broken down as follows [3]:

| Shareholder | Relationship | Shares | Stake |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차)** | Largest shareholder (affiliate) | 137,318,251 | **34.16%** (post-buyback) |
| **Chung Eui-sun (정의선)** | Executive Chairman, Hyundai Motor Group | 7,061,331 | **1.76%** |
| Song Ho-sung (송호성) | Affiliate executive (Kia CEO) | 3,500 | 0.00% |
| Choi Joon-young (최준영) | Affiliate executive | 1,718 | 0.00% |
| Joo Woo-jeong (주우정) | Affiliate executive | 23,740 | 0.01% |
| **Total controlling group** | | **144,408,540** | **35.92%** |

[3]

Note: Following the additional treasury-share cancellation captured between the FY2023 DART filing and the FY2024 audited statements, Hyundai Motor Company's effective stake rose to 34.53% [2], pushing the total controlling-group stake commensurately higher.

### Structural Context

- **Hyundai Motor Group's circular ownership chain**: Kia sits inside the Hyundai Motor Group's cross-holding structure. Hyundai Motor Company (005380) is Kia's direct parent; Kia in turn holds equity stakes in numerous Hyundai Motor Group affiliates including Hyundai Motor India (Kia held interim stake during pre-IPO), Hyundai Capital Canada (Kia 30%), Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus (30%), HMG Global LLC (Kia 30.50%), Robotics and AI Institute (Kia 28.50%), and others — making Kia both a downstream subsidiary AND an upstream investor within the group [2].
- **Chairman Chung Eui-sun (정의선)** is the third-generation head of the Hyundai founding family and serves as the personal anchor of the controlling block with his ~1.74–1.76% direct stake [3].
- **Listing**: Kia common shares have been listed on the Korea Exchange (KRX) since 1973 [1].

### Remaining Free Float (~64%)

The non-controlling ~64% is held by:
- **Domestic institutions** — historically dominated by the **National Pension Service (NPS)** as the largest single non-affiliated holder (typically 6–8% range in recent years per public NPS 5%-rule disclosures);
- **Foreign institutional investors** — historically 35–40% foreign ownership at Kia, including major global index funds (BlackRock, Vanguard) and active managers;
- **Domestic retail and other**;
- **Treasury shares** — periodically cancelled as part of the post-2022 shareholder-return program (e.g., 3.3 million shares cancelled May 2023) [3].

Note: The free-float breakdown above is summarized from the public-record context of the DART filings; the line-item ticker-by-investor disclosure is not in the chunks retrieved on this turn (NPS / BlackRock specific stakes would require their own 5%-rule filings or a separate ownership pull).

### Internal Research Cross-Reference

CLSA has 13+ research notes covering Kia (000270 KS) in the recent corpus (2024–2025), including dedicated single-name notes (e.g., "Kia — O-PF (Double-digit OPM defended)", Jan 30, 2025) and Korea autos sector pieces. None of the retrieved CLSA notes addresses the shareholder roster specifically — they focus on operating thesis (margins, EV mix, US tariff exposure, capital return) rather than ownership composition. The authoritative source for shareholder structure is the DART filings cited above.

---

**Sources**
[1] Kia Corporation — 2025 2Q Audit Report (interim consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2025)
[2] Kia Corporation — 2024 Audit Report (annual consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2024)
[3] Kia Corporation — Q4 2023 Annual Report (사업보고서, DART filing for FY2023, as of December 31, 2023)

## Citations

- [1] **2025 2Q Audit Report.pdf** · external
- [2] **2024 Audit Report.pdf** · external
- [3] **Kia Corporation, Q4 2023 Report** · external

