Warsaw officials to visit Seoul on Daewoo sale

SEOUL, April 26 Reuters has reported that Polish officials are expected to visit Seoul on Sunday to meet bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co's main lender and South Korean government officials, a Daewoo spokesman said on Friday.

Last month, Poland's Deputy Economy Minister Maciej Lesny said the Warsaw government started talks with Daewoo Motor, proposing to create a new venture and later sell it to a new manufacturer, and had two industry players interested.

General Motors Corp, the world's largest automaker, is expected next month to finalise a $2 billion deal to buy at least three of Daewoo's factories and other assets, but Daewoo's plants in Poland were excluded from the initial agreement signed last September.

"Government officials from Poland are expected to visit Seoul on Sunday," a Daewoo Motor spokesman told Reuters. "They are expected to meet with officials from (state-run) Korea Development Bank and the government," he said. "But there are no scheduled meetings with Daewoo officials."

Korea Development Bank, Daewoo's main lender, said earlier this month that GM was expected to buy two plants in South Korea and one in Vietnam, as well as some overseas Daewoo sales outlets. GM and an unidentified partner are expected to invest about $400 million in cash in the joint venture.

South Korea's Commerce Minister Shin Kook-hwan told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he expected a final deal with GM in early May.

After signing the deal with GM, Seoul plans to dispose of the rest of Daewoo, Shin said. He did not elaborate on whether that meant selling off or liquidating the assets.

Daewoo Motor has two plants in Poland. Daewoo FSO is capable of manufacturing 272,000 passenger cars and pick-ups annually, while Daewoo Motor Poland (DMP) can produce 32,000 commercial vehicles a year, according to statistics provided by the South Korean automaker.

Daewoo Motor has four plants in South Korea, as well as 10 other overseas factories in countries ranging from Egypt to Vietnam.