Ruia Group to bid for Ssangyong by August 10

The Ruia Group, which controls tyre makers Dunlop Ltd and Falcon Tyres, plans to bid for troubled South Korean automobile manufacturer Ssangyong Motor by August 10, a spokesperson for the group said.

Ssangyong Motor, which counts Barclays Bank among its top shareholders, has a market value of $409 million. South Korean media has put the value of a deal at up to $500 million.

"The due diligence is over. We will make our bid by the tenth of August," the spokesperson said today.

The final bid deadline for Ssangyong was extended by three weeks to August 10 to give more time to participants for due diligence.

Sale advisers for Ssangyong had earlier planned to receive binding bid proposals by July 20.

The South Korean firm short-listed six potential buyers.

Franco-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan and Mahindra & Mahindra were among those who had expressed an interest in Ssangyong.

A Seoul court kicked off the sale process for the cash-strapped SUV maker in May and had planned to pick a preferred buyer in August.

Ruia Group chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia will meet the Ssangyong management by the end of July, the spokesperson added.

"Mr Ruia, along with his team, is going to attend the management presentation meeting of Ssangyong," the Ruia spokesperson said. "He will be meeting them by the end of this month."

Mahindra & Mahindra said earlier in July that it will decide on a bid for Ssangyong on July 28.

Ruia has in the past declined to comment on a potential valuation for Ssangyong, in which China's SAIC Motor Corp owns 10%.