[THE INVESTOR] Hanwha Chemical's affiliate Hanwha Advanced Materials confirmed on Aug. 29 that it has failed to acquire Continental Structural Plastics, the US vehicle lightweight technology developer.

The announcement comes days after the failed bid by LG Hausys, the materials unit of LG Group, another Korean firm that participated in the highly publicized bidding war estimated at about US$700 million early this month. 


Sources said their bidding prices were much lower than rivals such as Germany’s BASF, Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors and some Chinese bidders.

Especially, Chinese bidders are said to have proposed higher-than-expected prices of almost US$900 million.

But Hanwha’s bidding price was estimated at about US$600 million, while the figure for LG was reportedly slightly higher.

Continental Structural Plastics produces key lightweight materials for cars such as carbon fiber, supplying parts to global carmakers such as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)