|
French eye Samsung vote
|
 |
April 24, 2000: 8:48 a.m. ET
Creditors set to OK Renault offer of up to $570M to break into Korean market
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Creditors of Samsung Motors were set to vote Tuesday to finalize French automaker Renault's plan to invest nearly $570 million in a new joint venture created around the debt-saddled South Korean company.
Representatives of the creditors returned to Korea late last week with an accord, struck Friday in Paris after four months of discussions, that could make Renault the first international carmaker to crack a nearly impenetrable Korean market.
CNNfn.com has learned Renault has offered between $560 million and $570 million for a 70 percent stake in a joint venture built around Samsung Motors assets, primarily an ultra-modern plant in the southern Korean city of Pusan.
By creating a joint venture, and following a court-negotiated settlement in Korea last week, the French company will shield itself from what reportedly is about $4 billion in Samsung Motors debt.
A Renault spokesman declined to comment. A spokesperson for Samsung Motors couldn't be reached.
The French company's bid is an improvement over the $450 million it first offered for the 70 percent stake in March. At that time, Renault said it was willing to buy only the operations of Samsung, not take on its sizeable debt.
Renault is seeking to extend its foothold in Asia after it bought a controlling minority stake in Japan's Nissan Motors for $5.4 billion last year.
Creditor officials met in Paris with Renault international relations director Jean-Marc Lepeu last Thursday and Friday, just as the deadline for exclusive talks between the companies was set to elapse. 
Agence France-Presse reported last week the latest round of talks ran into a snag as Renault discovered that Samsung Motors owed about $260 million to sister company Samsung, a big Korean chaebol, or conglomerate.
Unlike the Japanese market, South Korea is on the rebound after suffering a virtual meltdown in 1998. Some 910,000 new vehicles were sold in 1999 and that figure is expected to break the one million mark soon.
The Samsung Motors factory in Pusan was built in 1994 with Nissan technology but was closed in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Renault
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
