Global investment bank Morgan Stanley has been selected as the preliminary preferred bidder for Ssangyong Corp, a troubled South Korean trading company, Ssangyong’s creditors said Friday.
 
"Morgan Stanley beat four other prospective buyers in terms of price, job retention and debt disposal," a creditor bank official said on condition of anonymity. 
 
The creditors will make a final decision on Monday on whether to select Morgan Stanley as the prime bidder, he said. 
 
They plan to sign a preliminary deal with Morgan Stanley within this month before striking a final agreement by the end of November, the official added.
 
Ssangyong Corp. is the flagship of Ssangyong Group with Ssangyong Cement Industrial Co. and eight other subsidiaries. Creditors now control the conglomerate after bailing out Ssangyong Motor Co. that went insolvent in the wake of Korea’s 1997-98 economic crisis. 
 
Meanwhile, creditors of Ssangyong Cement said they will release the nation’s largest cement producer from their joint supervision in late November. 
 
"Ssangyong Cement will be dropped from joint creditor management, effective Nov. 30, thanks to improved performance and financial status," main creditor Chohung Bank said. 
 
Ssangyong Cement has been under the joint control of creditors since October 2001.