Troubled Ssangyong Motor seeks buyers to stay afloat

SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Yonhap) -- Beleaguered Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea's smallest
carmaker, is seeking potential investors to take over the company as it struggles
for survival after a months-long labor strike and plummeting sales, the firm's
officials said Saturday.

"Ssangyong Motor could possibly pursue its sale if any financial or strategic
investors emerge, whether at home or abroad," Park Young-tae, a court-appointed
manager of the company, said.
"No particular company has been tapped yet, but we expect a few firms to express
interest in the near future," Park said.
Industry watchers said at least three local and foreign companies in China and
India have shown interest in taking over the ailing automaker.
Finding a new owner is viewed as a practical solution for the cash-strapped
automaker to put its output back in order while winning back sales.
The latest move came as Ssangyong Motor came out of a 77-day labor strike
Thursday, after management and union leaders made a last-ditch effort to reach an
agreement on the carmaker's lay-off plans.
Hundreds of laid-off workers had barricaded themselves inside the company's paint
shop in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, demanding their jobs be reinstated following
the company's discharge of 36 percent, or 2,646 of its workforce under bankruptcy
protection in February.
In the first six months of this year, sales by Ssangyong, which has an annual
production capacity of 200,000 units, plunged 73.9 percent from the same period
last year to 13,020 units. The months-long strike also cost the carmaker 316
billion won in lost production.
Shanghai Automotive still owns a 51 percent stake in Ssangyong, but the Chinese
parent lost management control after the carmaker entered bankruptcy protection.
pbr@yna.co.kr