Creditors to complete sale of Daewoo Electronics this year

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- Creditors of Daewoo Electronics Co. are seeking to complete the prolonged sale of the country's third-largest electronics maker by the end of the year, industry sources said Wednesday.

The sale came to a halt earlier this year when Morgan Stanley PE, a unit of
global investment bank Morgan Stanley, scrapped its bid for the electronics
company in August.
According to the sources, two investors, including U.S.-based Ripplewood Holdings
LLC, have recently submitted bids for a controlling stake in Daewoo Electronics.
The creditors, led by state-run Korea Asset Management Corp., plan to pick a
preferred bidder on Monday, and ink a preliminary deal with a potential buyer
later this month.
Daewoo Electronics is a former unit of Daewoo Group, a local conglomerate which
collapsed in 1999 under debts totaling US$80 billion.
The sale of Daewoo Electronics, which started in October 2005, has been prolonged
due to labor disputes and price differences.
Daewoo Electronics, 98 percent owned by creditors, posted an operating income of
3 billion won (US$2.47 million) on sales of 480 billion won in the second quarter
of the year. In the first quarter, it logged a net profit of 5.5 billion,
swinging to the black for the first time in three years.