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The proposed sale of the troubled Korean SUV maker SsangYong Motor Company (SYMC) won’t fetch its largest shareholder Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) any proceeds. SYMC has been under a court-led rehabilitation process since December 2020.
Consortium’s offer
M&M has been informed by a court-appointed receiver that a consortium led by South Korean electric bus maker Edison Motors Co. has agreed to acquire SYMC for 304.858 billion won (about ₹crore) through a primary equity investment.
“Subject to a rehabilitation plan reflecting the terms of the Edison Motors Co’s investment being approved at an interested parties’ meeting of SYMC which is expected to take place in some months from now and pursuant to primary investment by Edison Motors Co. and certain expected capital restructuring undertaken as part of the rehabilitation process of SYMC, the company’s holding in SYMC will reduce,” M&M said in a statement.
The Edison-led consortium has asked for a stake of 95 per cent in SYMC against their investment and SYMC has agreed to make best efforts to meet the said request.
While M&M holds 74.65 percent in SYMC, the Mumbai-based company ceased consolidating SYMC and its subsidiaries as subsidiaries from December 28, 2020 and has classified it as discontinued operations. SYMC and its four subsidiaries, however, are considered as subsidiaries of M&M under the Companies Act, 2013.
“The Company will not receive any consideration on account of the proposed primary investment being made by a consortium led by Edison Motors Co in SYMC,” M&M clarified.
The offer made by the Edison-led consortium is nearly the same as M&M’s purchase price inked in late 2010. The Mumbai-based SUV specialist had paid ₹2,100 crore ($462 million at the then exchange rates) for a 70 per cent stake in SYMC. The SYMC buyout was the biggest outbound deal by M&M.
Write-off
During FY20, M&M wrote off investments of around ₹2,000 crore it made in SsangYong after putting its entire stake in the Korean company for sale in February that year. Also, in April 2020, M&M announced that it will not make any further investments in SYMC and declined SYMC’s request for fund infusion following the business disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mahindra and SYMC jointly developed the X100 platform which saw the birth of the Mahindra XUV300 compact SUV in India and the SsangYong Tivoli in Korea. Mahindra also experimented with launching the SsangYong SUV under its namesake brand. The Alturas premium SUV from Mahindra was a rebranded SsangYong G4 Rexton.
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