I know that stories about who will buy a down and out Korean carmaker called Ssangyong are not a major click-through magnet. Therefore, just for the record: Ssangyong selected India’s Mahindra & Mahindra as the preferred bidder to acquire a majority stake. And just in case, they named India’s Raghav Industries as the secondary preferred bidder, says The Nikkei [sub].
Ssangyong wants to sign an M.O.U. with Mahindra by the end of August, but only after they fork over 5 percent of the (undisclosed) offered acquisition price as earnest money.
Mahindra wants to go through Ssangyong’s books first before they decide on a final price. A contract could be signed in November.
If the deal falls through, there is always the second preferred bidder. Raghav Industries is an investment affiliate of Indian conglomerate Ruia Group. Not in the car business per se, they dabble in tires, automotive-sealing products, heavy engineering, sugar and electronics.
Indian companies are quite aggressive when it comes to buying distressed automotive assets, something that still is a bit alien to the Chinese competition. But who knows, maybe Geely/Volvo will change that.
So Bertel, can you help us understand why, if the Indian companies are known to be aggressive negotiators, have the Koreans gone to such lengths to ensure they will be bought by an Indian firm? It’s not like there wasn’t a range of interested parties in Ssangyong. Thanks.
Not the foggiest idea ….
Because it’s preferable to having another Chinese firm pick up the company and run it to the ground without investing in it? After all the drama with Ssangyong over the past year, I think the Korean government has soured of selling failed automakers to its Chinese neighbors…
shirt-jack
Interesting. With the Korea/US free trade agreement Mahindra could get around US tariffs for trucks produced in Korea.
Let me see if I have this straight:
– Mahindra (or was it Maruti?) announced they would come to the U.S., but didn’t,
– Mahindra repeated this announcement, and repeated the non-arrival in the U.S.,
– Ssangyong has sold cars in the U.S., but went bankrupt,
– Mahindra wants Ssangyong…
Could this be the step needed for Mahindra to make good on it’s oft-announced, but never implemented, plans?
Time will tell…
ssangyong never sold cars in the us that i am aware of… i know they used to be part of daewoo but were any of the ssangyong models sold here?
i think that niky is right. this is a political decision. ssangyong never should have gone under. the chinese just stripped it of it’s technology and then left it to die. i just hope that they save the chairman!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ssangyong_Chairman
Oh, I’d like to be enlightened about what ‘current’ tech. can SAIC get away from Ssangyong not readily available to ‘borrow’ from its American friend.
Phoenix Motorcars was going to sell a Ssangyong SUV in the US. They were going to buy it as a glider and put in an electric drive train.
Phoenix has recently risen from the ashes of bankruptcy, so maybe their plans are back on.
Other than that, I have never heard of Ssangyong planning any US sales.
Could be I have it wrong, but I seem to recall seeing a couple of Rextons on the streets in Detroit a few years ago… perhaps they were there for testing, development, demonstration, or a competitor’s benchmarking (but they did not carry the traditional “M” (Manufacturer) plate that is typically seen on such cars in Michigan…