This file photo taken April 15, 2021, shows the gate of a plant of SsangYong Motor Co. in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A South Korean consortium led by local electric carmaker Edison Motors Co. agreed to purchase the financially-troubled SsangYong Motor Co. at a lower price with an accounting firm overseeing the sales, sources said Sunday.
The move came after the Edison consortium, a preferred bidder that submitted the acquisition price of 310 billion won (US$261 million) for SsangYong, called for a renegotiation, claiming the troubled carmaker had additional flaws.
The consortium initially demanded a cut of 15 billion won but eventually reached an agreement at a price of around 304.8 billion won with the court-appointed lead manager EY Hanyoung accounting firm, according to the sources.
Edison is expected to pay 10 percent of the acquisition price by the end of this month to ink an official contract.
In April, SsangYong was placed under court receivership for the second time after undergoing the same process a decade earlier. Its Indian parent Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. failed to attract an investor due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and its worsening financial status.
Court receivership is one step short of bankruptcy in South Korea’s legal system. In receivership, the court will decide whether and how to revive the company.
(Yonhap)
