Hyundai Heavy Industries has joined in the bidding competition to take over Korea Aerospace Industries, the nation’s sole aircraft manufacturer.

While it had been widely expected that Korean Air would be the sole bidder, Hyundai Heavy, one of the nation’s 10 largest conglomerates, entered its bid to the state-run Korea Finance Corp. on Thursday.

The Korea Finance Corp. holds a 26.41 percent stake in KAI as the largest shareholder. The state-run financier and three other major shareholders are moving to sell a stake of about 40 percent (worth about $1 billion) in KAI by the end of the year.

The other three owners are Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung Techwin and Doosan Group, which each hold 10 percent.

In the meantime, KAI’s unionized workers are opposing the plan, claiming that it should remain a state-run corporation or be led by an association of public aerospace organizations.

(kys@heraldcorp.com)