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As we’d hoped, today events saw all the final hurdles cleared before Spyker Cars proceed to closing the deal with General Motors for the acquisition of Saab Automobile. At the time the deal was signed, the closed was scheduled for “mid-February” with several mentions of Monday 15th as a closing date, so hopefully it will happen on Monday but it should be done by the end of next week at the latest.
Here’s a summary of what happened today.
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SPYKER CARS EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
Spyker shareholders approve Saab acquisition
The Spyker Cars Extraordinary General Meeting took place in Zeewolde and at that meeting, shareholders approved the plan to acquire Saab Automobile with an overwhelming majority.
Possibility of listing on the London Stock Exchange
From a news release shown over at Etienne’s Saabhuy blog:

“Today’s meeting went very smoothly and we spent a lot of time explaining the transaction in great detail. We also announced that we are currently investigating the possibilities of listing Spyker at the London Stock Exchange by means of a dual listing and possibly in the future in Stockholm, in which case the listing in Amsterdam would eventually be terminated. However, I stress that this is still in the investigation phase and no such decision has been made yet.

Listing in these countries would open up far greater possibilities for capital raising for the new company.
Delay on changing the corporate name
From the same news release:

We postponed the decision to change the name of Spyker Cars N.V. to Saab Spyker Automobiles because we need to reach agreement with Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab AB on the possible use of the Saab trademark in our corporate name. We expect this issue to be resolved at Spyker’s Annual General Meeting, scheduled for April 22 2010.

Here’s hoping that Saab AB play ball and don’t make this overly difficult. I could almost understand Saab AB’s reservations, but if they were happy for an American-owned company to use it, then why not a Dutch-owned company?
Maybe because the American company just had it as a brand, not as the entire corporate identity, as would be the case for Saab Spyker.
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SWEDISH NATIONAL DEBT OFFICE RECOMMENDS LOAN GUARANTEES
The Swedish government has confirmed the offer of loan guarantees made on January 26 following a recommendation from the Swedish National Debt Office.
The SNDO concluded that Saab’s business plan is plausible with acceptable levels of risk and that there is sufficient collateral to support the loan guarantees.
Following that news…..
EIB LOAN HAS BEEN APPROVED
Via a news release on the EIB website today:

EIB loan to Saab
Date: 12 February 2010
The EIB has confirmed the authorisation to conclude the EUR 400 m loan to SAAB Automobile AB in accordance with the terms and conditions approved by the Board of Directors on 21 October 2009 and to conclude the guarantee agreement with the Swedish National Debt Office, as the loan is subject to a state guarantee which the Swedisch Government approved on 26 January 2010. The EU Commission approved the Swedish state-guarantee for the Bank’s loan to SAAB on 8 February 2010.

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Today’s events mean that everything is set up now, for the closing of the deal.
The challenge now is for Saab to start building, selling and designing cars for customers. They now get that chance, a chance to do things on their own terms, which is what we’ve all been hoping for, and fighting for, all along.
Congratulations to Victor Muller, the Spyker executive and to Jan-Ake Jonsson and Saab’s management team for a another successful day.
Time for cake?

UPDATE below
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There are three big things that we’re hoping for today.
Assuming that they don’t do announcements on the weekend (I could be wrong), it’d be nice if the Swedish National Debt Office and the European Investment Bank made some announcements prior to the closing date for the deal (Monday). They could do it Monday morning, I guess.
The other big event today is the Extraordinary General Meeting being held by Spyker Cars in Zeewolde. Shareholders will be voting on a number of issues (see the Agenda for the meeting here). I fully expect that meeting to progress smoothy, even if there are some questions asked about finance.
A press conference should be held after the EGM.
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UPDATE
It appears that the shareholders of Spyker Cars have voted in favour of the acquisition. There was a live-blog of the shareholder meeting, in Dutch.
A Googletrans of the record states the following at the end:

Applause: shareholders vote massively in the acquisition.
Friday, February 12, 2010 12:54

Spyker will do a press conference when it’s all said and done.
Thanks to Robert P for the CoverItNow link.
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Whilst you’re waiting for all that to happen, enjoy an article from Henk Noort, a psychologist and researcher from The Netherlands.
My googletrans might not be overly accurate, but I think you’ll get the picture.
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On the day that I drove home in my first Saab convertible, Spyker CEO Victor Muller took on Saab…..
……Previously I had nothing to do with cars, but [the right] Saab changed me into a petrol head. The Saab convertible [has been] my wet dream for decades. The declining ‘saab’ of the brand did love cool, but when I saw the sovereign 9.3 2.0t, I was instantly in love again…..
……Friends and acquaintances constantly show me the disadvantages: it is not economical, maintenance and sensitive as a family car and totally inappropriate for our maritime climate. That may be so, but dreams are by definition irrational. Mullers dream calls in our risk averse culture zesje same envious reactions. I’d rather give him the benefit of the doubt.
……Dare to dream and to live up against oppression, is what life is. It inspires others to do the same. Mullers feat even brought our Prime Minister to his neck out by stabbing the daredevil publicly embrace. So no immediate consensus that Dutch scythe, rather take an example of Victor Muller. He began his entrepreneurship on credit by a Jaguar V12 expensive to buy. So he forced himself to realize his dreams. The course does not have to cost tons, funded my dream-Saab has the same effect. Chase your wildest dreams, dare to take an advance and put your pedal to the metal!
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I’m getting an early night. I need one.