M&M and Ruia group vie for Korean car company

By By: vicky.in

Published: Monday, May 31, 2010, 17:09 [IST]

The muscle power show is heating up by the two automobile companies, M&M (its second attempt after 2003) and Ruia(makers of Dunlop tyres) in acquiring the Korean SUV company Ssangyong Motor company. The Korean company has so far received seven bids including these two companies and French Renault. China"s SAIC has got 10% stake in Ssangyong (earlier it had nearly half of the total shares). The Korean company has been travelling through a tough trough, one being the court involved restructuring process.

The bid for Korean company is not known, but M&M and Ruia have offered somewhere in the range of Rs1400 crore and Rs2300 crore. Both are tightlipped about the outcome of the proposal. Ruia has 8companies on its arm and four are related to tyre business. In 2005 it successfully acquired Dunlop and the latest is the first attempt to enter the vehicle means.

Ssangyong is marketing Rexton and Kyron suvs and a sedan called Chairman. Of late, the company has been forced to lease its deal due to enhanced completion in the domestic market, low profile for demand in new vehicles, lack of funds for investments, negligence by SAIC. Ssangyong share 2% in the Korean market before facing the fall in its market, a loss of Rs100 crore in the first quarter of 2010.

However, SAIC, which has 49% stake(got at 0 million) is on the promoting phase of Ssangyong. Volkswagen too made its bid, as it has an association with SAIC, since VW is on the expansion spree in the markets of Vietnam and Russia for suvs. The company seeks to double its sale to 85000 units this year, thereby making the toll to 183000 by 2013.

Daewoo, which had a bid for 54% had to give up its move following the Ssangyong"s failure to fit for international markets. The spokesperson for Ssangyong indicated that there will be an official announcement about the sale bid, as it has already issued introductory letters. M&M is on the large scale acquisition nowadays as recently it got the stake of Reva Electric Car co, with a purchase of 55.2% stake at a fresh equity infusion of Rs45 crore.