SsangYong Motor, the troubled South Korean SUV maker, said a deal for its acquisition had fallen through after the potential buyer, electric bus maker Edison Motors, had failed to pay the balance of 274.3 billion won ($224 million), according to news sources.
The two companies signed an agreement in January in which a consortium led by Edison would acquire a controlling stake in SsangYong, which is majority owned by the Indian conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra.
However, Edison did not meet a March 25 payment deadline, and the contract was canceled, Ssangyong said, according to Indian and South Korean news sources. SsangYong officials said they would seek a new buyer.
Edison had paid about 10 percent of the purchase price at signing.
SsangYong, which sells the Rexton, Korando and Tivoli SUVs in Europe, has been under court receivership since April 2021 after Mahindra & Mahindra failed to secure a buyer. The Indian company acquired a 75 percent interest in Ssangyong in 2010.
SsangYong's global sales last year fell to 84,496, down about 21 percent from a year earlier, the automaker said. European sales were 11,130, a 15 percent increase from 2020, according to data from JATO Dynamics.
