Seoul, Korea – October 8 – Hyundai Construction Equipment (HCE), Seoul-based leading construction equipment marker, announced today it completed its new European headquarters at Tessenderlo, Belgium on October 6. The completion ceremony was attended by Ki-young Kong, President and CEO of HCE; Hyoung-zhin Kim, Ambassador, Head of the Mission of the Republic of Korea to the EU; Philippe Muyters, Flemish Minister for Work, Economy, Innovation and Sports; Herman Reynders, Governor of Limburg Province; and 300 other guests. On the back of strong performances including securing the second place in the domestic market in terms of numbers of excavators sold for the first half of this year and a 30% increase in sales in the emerging markets over the comparable period last year, HCE now aims to strengthen its presence in the European market with the completion of the new headquarters. Considering the fact that HCE posted KRW (hereinafter ’won’) 89.2 billion in sales in the first quarter, and 97.9 billion won in the second quarter for the European market, HCE’s annual sales for the market might reach to about 380 billion won, 10% up from last year. Macroeconomic factors are also favorable. European Central Bank recently revised up euro area GDP growth rate of 2017 to 2.2% from 1.9%, and maintained its growth projection of 2018 and 2019 as 1.8% and 1.7% respectively. Under the circumstance, HCE plans to accelerate efforts to raise its brand recognition in the regional market by implementing various training programs for dealers and customers, and community activities including supporting a local youth soccer team. The new headquarters consists of a huge parts logistics center, an office building, a demonstration area and a training facility. Moreover with two-folded parts supply capacity compared to the previous headquarters, sales increase in parts including lubricants is expected. At the ceremony, President Kong said, “We see now the completion of the new European headquarters will work as catalyst for strengthening our presence in the European Market. We will exert our utmost efforts to rank global Top 5 by 2023 with the global annual sales of 7 trillion won.”