Car maker Ssangyong applies for receivership

Troubled South Korean car maker Ssangyong Motor said today it had applied for court receivership.

Ssangyong said in a statement that it made the “unavoidable choice” to address its liquidity crisis.

The car maker said the decision came at a meeting of its board of directors in China yesterday where its parent company Shanghai Automotive Industry is based.

It said court receivership meant a “corporate resuscitation process”.

SAIC took over Ssangyong in 2004 and owns a 51% stake in the company. Ssangyong is South Korea’s fifth-largest car maker.

Later, company spokesman Choi Nam-hyun said president Choi Hyung-tak had resigned.