SaabsUnited.com

UPDATED – thanks to SR in comments……
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Ah, the things you overlook when things are busy….
We’re all eagerly awaiting some sort of announcement from Saab with regards to who their new owner might be.
By the way, I’m betting on it being Renco. I don’t like it, but that’s who I (still) think will win the day. More on that later….
But in my own haste and absence from writing here in the last few days, I overlooked one important thing that Saab have to tick off their list before they can enter the final stages of negotiations with their most likely party.
Saab are still awaiting approval from the courts in Vanersborg for their ‘composition’ proceedings an extension to their reconstruction application, which will give them to August 20 to get things tied up.
A ruling from the court is expected on Friday, so Saab could possibly be in a position to ink some signatures some time next week.
Via a news story at DN.se (thanks to ctm!) we can see that the only concern with this decision is a supplier who wasn’t happy about Saab being a little late paying the rent. They’ve said that as long as Saab are on time with the next payment, everything should be fine.
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Saab also have to gain approval for their composition proceedings, which involve Saab gaining approval from creditors to slash the amount owed to them by 75% and prolong payment of this remaining amount for up to a year.
That’s a big bitter pill for any supplier to swallow and it will put them all under some sort of duress, but the Saab people will say that it’s better than the lesser amount they’d receive otherwise and with no future possibility of further contracts (if Saab were to go under).
Support is believed to be strong for this proceeding and GM, being Saab’s largest creditor, have approved the proposal. The news around town is that more than 50% of the proxies received so far have also approved, including the Swedish customs service, who were one of the shaky ones last week when composition proceedings began.

UPDATED!!
There’s a new article from Fairfax press here in Australia which covers a little of the comment from Saab. The GP article, below, has more details, though.

Saab Automobile, owned by US giant General Motors, was confident it would find a new owner and not be impacted by a possible bankruptcy of its US owner.
“We are working on our process, and GM is selling Saab and that process is not impacted at present,” Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs told Swedish radio news.
Gustavs said the group was “optimistic” and the attempt to find a new owner “was in its final stretch.”

Thanks Richo!
The GP article is below…..
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With GM’s entrance into Chapter 11 looming closer by the day, many are wondering how it might effect Saab and their reconstruction and new-ownership plans.
The following article appeared in the Gothenburg Post.
A few notables in this Googletrans:
1) Saab’s new models and the tooling are all covered and paid for.
2) Saab are technically owned by a Canadian subsidiary of GM
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Saab ‘sit quiet in the boat”
Saab Automobile say they sit calmly in the boat despite the storms around owner General Motors.
- Our plan will continue, regardless of GM’s position,” said Joe Oliver, spokesperson for Saab, told TT.
- We are on track to cut Saab [out from GM] and into an independent company and align with a new owner. The work is ongoing and will continue whatever happens with GM. We feel no panic,” he continues.
While Saab is completely dependent on GM’s cash. Since the month-long state wage has ceased Saab during reconstruction paid suppliers and salaries with borrowed money from GM. The loan is 150 million U.S. dollars, equivalent to 1.1 billion. Approximately one third have already gone to.
The question is what happens to the money if GM goes into some form of bankruptcy.
- The money is in an account earmarked for Saab and as the administrator has access. What we know so far, the account will not be affected,” said Joe Oliver.
Saab and GM believes that the chances of survival depend on the creditors agreeing to forgive a large part of their debts. For Saab’s part, GM is by far the largest creditor, with 90 percent of the debts of 10.5 billion kronor. GM has said that it agrees to Saab’s proposal for a composition, where only 25 percent of the debt is due within one year. But chords hearing is not until June 17 when GM might be contained in a reorganization.
GM has also promised to pay for the tools to build Saab’s new models, including the Saab 9-5. There are costs in 1,5-2 billion.
Saab remains formally owned by a Canadian subsidiary of GM. The sale will be under the administrator’s lawyer Guy Lofalks plan made clear in June.
There are ongoing negotiations with the three remaining speculators. This week, they have resulted in that only one candidate is left, but on Wednesday was the three. In all cases, according to Saab’s official version.
The speculation talk the most about Italian Fiat and the Canadian Magna, which also presented bids for the Opel, Chinese car maker Geely, Swedish sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg, backed by Norwegian financiers, and Renco Group is a U.S. investment company.
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I think the overwhelming message there is that Saab should be able to proceed with their plans despite GM’s bankruptcy proceedings. Saab are such a small part of the process that I’m sure the courts in the US will allow things to proceed without a blink.