India: General Motors moving forward on sale of Indian car plant to China’s SAIC

A subsidiary of China’s top carmaker SAIC Motor plans to acquire certain General Motors manufacturing assets in India, a filing with the country’s competition watchdog showed on Friday.

The assets, which could give the Chinese automaker a toehold in the Indian car market, will be acquired via an Indian subsidiary of SAIC that is yet to be incorporated, according to the filing with the Competition Commission of India.

As part of a side deal, General Motors also plans to buy out SAIC’s 9.2 percent stake in SAIC General Motors Investment – a joint venture it formed with the Chinese automaker in 2009 to expand its presence in emerging markets like India, a separate filing showed.

GM, in an emailed response to a Reuters query following the filing, said discussions with SAIC on the sale of Halol – its plant in the Western state of Gujarat – were progressing well and that the two parties were working to secure necessary approvals.

“We’ll share any progress at the appropriate time,” GM said.

It was not immediately clear whether the two deals are being structured as some sort of asset swap, or whether there would be payments made by both parties for the assets. A spokeswoman for SAIC declined to comment.

Full Content: Reuters

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