Ford Motor Co has taken line honours in the battle for debt-laden Daewoo Motor with a W7.7 trillion $6.9 billion bid. Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Lee Yong Keun named Ford the sole preferred bidder from a field of three. The decision came a day earlier than scheduled and this, coupled with the fact Lee declined to announce a second preferred bidder, suggests the US auto maker's offer was considerably higher than either of those tabled by the DaimlerChryslerHyundai Motors and General MotorsFiat camps.
People were talking about Daewoo fetching W5 trillion to W6 trillion. It was significantly better than that, says Richard Pyo, analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston....