SAIC bid top in initial Kumho Tire auction

The Shanghai Aerospace Industry Co., or SAIC, is said to have submitted the highest bid for Kumho Tire in the preliminary auction. According to Maeil Business News Korea’s Pulse website, the value of the SAIC bid hasn’t been disclosed, however “market experts” recently estimated that bidding for Kumho Tire could reach as high as KRW 1 trillion (£685.8 million).

SAIC is a 100 per cent-owned unit of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s largest state-owned aerospace company, and is responsible for the Shanghai Aerospace Automobile Electromechanical Co. (SAAE) subsidiary, whose businesses include the manufacture of automotive components. Pulse notes that synergies between Kumho Tire and SAAE are expected should SAIC prove the ultimate winner of the bidding war.