400 and without common measure with the 328

The Korean manufacturer SsangYong Motor may be badly, it stirs up the covetous. Seven candidates have expressed their interest in the takeover of the group Friday, date deadline attached to the purchasers by the judicial administrator. Renault is part of those who filed a letter of intent, indicate several internal sources. The automaker Mahindra is also studying the record, he confirmed Saturday. Among the other candidates include, according to the local press, the Indian conglomerate Ruia and Young An Hat Company, a Korean manufacturer of hats that developed in the car with Daewoo Bus.

Firm offers are expected on 20 July. In the meantime, groups selected by the Court of Seoul will be able to assess in detail the company, under the tutelage of the Korean banks since February 2009 due to heavy financial problems. Weekend, rumours of a close recovery largely fuelled speculation on the title which won 12.95 at the Seoul stock exchange, valuing the company of 300 million euros.

SsangYong is the smallest of the Korean manufacturers. In the month of April, its sales reached 7,000 vehicles, far behind Renault Samsung (24,000) or General Motors Daewoo (170.400) and without common measure with the 328.600 of Hyundai Kia. Specializing in all-terrain vehicles and utilities, SsangYong must withstand a very high debt but has an industrial tool powerful and well located geographically.

The acquisition of SsangYong would give Renault Samsung an extension of welcome capacity at a time where the manufacturer owned by the French, although close to its capacity limits, plans to make the Korea export platform. According to an industry source, interest in Renault would be to have another Korea production centre to be assembled Nissan vehicles, or Dacia. The Korea important few Japanese vehicles because they are penalized by high import taxes. Hence the interest to produce on-site.

Renault Samsung could also benefit from a strengthening in the 4 x 4: "even if they are unpopular in Europe, these vehicles are in high demand in emerging countries, and SsangYong offers a wide range in this area," explains Philippe Barrier, analyst for Société Générale.

New era for SsangYong

Korean experts estimate that a joint bid presented by Renault and Renault Samsung could create some goodwill of the authorities of the peninsula. The diamond group has a twofold advantage in successful rescue of Samsung in the early 2000s and present a "national" solution For the French group, which currently displays a debt reduction strategy, the acquisition may however be a problem in terms of financial means. "The operation can be made only if the constructor assigns assets or if it's only a taking," said Philippe Barrier.

SsangYong, it is a new era ahead, after a very troubled period. The former conglomerate was, like many others, dismembered in the aftermath of the Asian crisis of 1998. On the one hand, the shipbuilding industry gave birth to the STX group, which, since then, resumed recently the Chantiers de l'Atlantique.

The automobile brand SsangYong, another branch of the former chaebol, is fallen in 2004 in the SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) anyway. The car manufacturer in Shanghai, which was already linked to Volkswagen and General Motors, then disbursed some 500 million dollars to take 49 percent of the capital and to appropriate technology 4 x 4 of the Korean group. Into a logic of disengagement of SsangYong since the crisis of 2008, SAIC was back, these days, its participation to 9.95 of the capital.