Creditors of ailing Ssangyong Motor Co have selected China's biggest maker of industrial detergent as the primary bidder to buy a controlling stake in the South Korean carmaker, an official said on Saturday.

　　More than 80 percent of creditors approved China Blue Star (Group) Corp as the preferred bidder, said Kang Jong-min, an official at Ssangyong's main creditor, Chohung Bank. Blue Star needed at least 75 percent approval for the right to bid first.

　　Creditors plan to sign a memorandum of understanding with state-run Blue Star today to sell a 48.92 percent stake in Ssangyong and hope to complete the sale by March.

　　Ssangyong's creditors hold a majority stake in the carmaker after they agreed to forgive the company's debt in exchange for shares in 2000 and 2002. The company, specializing in sports utility vehicles and luxury sedans, has been in financial trouble since it split from the now dissolved South Korean conglomerate Daewoo Group in 1999.

　　Blue Star, which says it has 90 percent of China's market for industrial cleaning, now has total assets of 20 billion yuan (US$2.41 billion) and annual sales of 10 billion yuan, the Beijing-based Economic Observer said. It is also one of the 189 key state-owned large companies that reports directly to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of China's State Council.

　　It gained some automotive experience after it took over 40 former military vehicle repair and assembly companies two years ago and now has five auto assembly plants. It also has joint ventures with two South Korean auto parts makers and supplies parts to a Beijing factory owned by South Korea's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co.

　　Besides, Blue Star controls three listed-companies in China and operates the Malan Noodle Restaurant chain, which has 436 outlets at home and abroad.

　　The planned sale, if concluded, would mark the first time that a Chinese company had taken a majority stake in a South Korean carmaker.

　　General Motors Corp of the United States bought South Korea's bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co last year and now has a 42 percent stake in GM Daewoo Automotive & Technology Co. Renault SA of France bought South Korea's Samsung Motors Inc in 2000 and set up Renault Samsung.

　　Union workers at Ssangyong Motor have opposed the planned sale, claiming the company can survive independently.