SsangYong falls into receivership as owner Mahindra fails to find buyer

South Korea's SsangYong Motor has been put under court receivership, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court said on Thursday, in an attempt to rehabilitate the car maker after majority owner Mahindra and Mahindra failed to secure a buyer.

SsangYong applied to the court in December for receivership after it defaulted on a loan repayment.

The South Korean automaker is expected to submit a rehabilitation plan to the court by June.

“We plan to promote the early termination of the rehabilitation process through the completion of the M&A, such as selecting an adviser in the shortest possible time in consultation with the Seoul Bankruptcy Court,” SsangYong said in a statement.

SsangYong is burdened with high debt, and the company has said its 2020 vehicle sales fell more than 20% from a year earlier to 107,416 vehicles.

Its 2020 operating loss widened to 449 billion won (roughly R5,781,888,864) from 282 billion won (roughly R3,630,273,420) a year earlier. Revenue fell 19% to 3 trillion won.

Indian automaker Mahindra, which owned 75% of SsangYong as of the end of last year, has been looking for a buyer for all or most of its stake, which it bought when the South Korean automaker was near-bankruptcy in 2010, but Mahindra has struggled to turn it around.