Creditors of Daewoo Electronics Corp. have decided to give two more months to Entekhab Industrial Group to help the Iranian electronics firm finance a deal to buy South Korea's third-largest electronics company, sources said Wednesday.

   Last November, state-run debt clearer Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO) and other creditors sealed a deal to sell a combined

97.5 percent stake in Daewoo Electronics to Entekhab Industrial Group, a deal estimated to fetch 577.7 billion won (US$514 million).

   But Entekhab Industrial Group is facing difficulties in securing funding as local and foreign investors have shown little interest in pooling the money, causing the group to miss a deadline to submit its finalized financing plan this month.

   According to sources, creditors plan to extend the deadline by an additional two months to April 7 in an effort to make the deal stay afloat amid market concerns that the contract may be scrapped.

   "It is hard to find a proper potential buyer even if the deal with Entekhab Industrial breaks up. Creditors have decided to wait for the new deadline," a creditor bank official said.

   KAMCO owns the largest stake in Daewoo Electronics with 48 percent. It's followed by Korea Exchange Bank's 6.6 percent and Shinhan Bank's 5.8 percent.

   Entekhab had planned to provide 110 billion won from its own cash holdings and the remainder would be supplied by funding from a group of financial investors.

   Daewoo Electronics, which has been under a debt rescheduling program since August 1999, is a former subsidiary of the now-defunct Daewoo Group. (Yonhap News)