The Saab see-saw continues, and now, there’s a likelihood of liquidation for Swedish Automobile even if the company is sold to Chinese companies Pang Da and Youngman. It seems that the proceeds of the sale – and that of Spyker – may not be enough to pay off creditors.
According to reports, brand owner Swedish Automobile – which has tentative agreements to sell both Saab and Spyker – will consider “all of its options,” including a voluntary liquidation, should the deals go through, the company said last Friday. The transactions – Saab for 100 million, and Spyker for 32 million – are set to raise a combined 132 million euros, though that amount is insufficient to cover the company’s debts of 136.5 million euros, it said.
The company added that a lack of approvals and final agreements on the deals raises questions about the future of Swedish Automobile and any settlement with stakeholders. Earlier in the month, General Motors, which had preference shares in Saab, and which supplies the brand with crucial components, said it would not approve the sale.
The clearance of Saab’s sale is also required from Chinese authorities, the Swedish government and the European Investment Bank. Swedish Automobile’s preliminary agreement with Zhejiang Youngman Lotus and Pang Da is valid until today, November 15.
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Poor Saab….
Crisis after crisis ….
guess this is just meant to be
Where do you think P1 will be without Gomen handouts?
Isn’t 100 million for a “famous” car company is on the low side?
I wonder what went wrong. Brand value diluted? Intense competition from Lexus & Hyundai?
gg.com
It just couldn’t keep up with trends so it faded out. Saab’s background is not as lucky as Proton’s.
I hope FIAT Group will buy this brand.
I think it’s very unlikely that FIAT or any western car company will buy Saab because what’s left is just a brand. They don’t have any piece of technology that people really want. They used to be very good with turbo. But everybody has caught up with them. Lately they’ve been selling cars based on the brand.
Very similar to Volvo but it seems the Volvo brand fetched much higher price.
Why not offer to Saab AB aviation? Maybe then we will have gas turbine powered Saabs.
The author of the article has misunderstood the situation totally. The company that may be liquidated after a possible sale of Saab Automobile to the Chinese, is Swan (Swedish Automobile), NOT Saab. Swan bought Saab from GM in February 2010, but the company was at that time calle Spyker Cars. Swan today owns Saab and Spyker, and are about to sell both of the brands. In that case Swan will be an empty shell, and may not have sufficient funds to repay creditors.
Johan,
The headline is the culprit! Or rather, I am. My bad. The story actually states Swedish Automobile is the one in dire straits, I don’t know what I was thinking when I typed in that headline! The updated headline should correctly reflect the issue at hand. Thanks!
love those quirky looking cars, sad to see them go down.