Creditors to reinvite bids for Daewoo Electronics

Creditor banks of Daewoo Electronics Corp. are seeking to reinvite bids for the country's third-largest electronics firm as their latest attempt to sell the company is on the brink of falling through, bank officials said Wednesday.
Creditors have been in talks with Electrolux AB on the sale of Daewoo Electronics after a plan to sell the company to Entekhab Industrial Group of Iran collapsed last month.
According to the officials, Electrolux, a second preferred bidder, demanded that its bidding price be drastically adjusted, which creditors could not accept.
"We are moving into that direction (toward reinviting bids) after scrapping all negotiations now under way," said a bank official on the condition of anonymity.
Electrolux offered to pay 600 billion won (US$557 million) in April last year and to pay 30 billion won more in September when the creditors were in negotiations with the Iranian company.
The planned sale of Daewoo to Entekhab for 578 billion won collapsed last month after Entekhab Industrial failed to make a full payment for the deal.
Meanwhile, creditors' decade-long search for a buyer of Daewoo Electronics may be further delayed as the Iranian firm sought a court injunction earlier this month, requesting creditors to maintain Entekhab's status as the prime bidder for Daewoo Electronics.
Entekhab paid 58 billion won in deposits when it signed the deal in November to take over Daewoo Electronics' assets and debts.
Daewoo Electronics is a former unit of Daewoo Group, once South Korea's largest conglomerate before it collapsed in 1999.