SaabsUnited.com

We have learned first hand information that the briefing package requested by GM has been sent out by Saab’s potential Chinese owners explaining exactly what they are requesting, what they want to do with Saab and how they intend to do it.

Negotiations about the ownership status is still on-going.

Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 11 November 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) provides further information regarding the sale of the Saab Auto Group and the Spyker business, including the further consequences for Swan.

1. Sale of the Saab Auto Group
On 28 October 2011, Swan entered into a memorandum of understanding (the MOU) with Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co., Ltd.

(Youngman) and Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., Ltd. (Pang Da) for the sale by Swan to Youngman and Pang Da of the shares that Swan holds in Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) and Saab Great Britain Limited (Saab GB) for an aggregate purchase price of EUR 100 million. In terms of the MOU, the total purchase price of EUR 100 million will be paid in the following manner:
• EUR 50 million upon completion of the sale
• 4 instalments of EUR 12.5 million payable on the first, second, third and fourth anniversary of completion of the sale
Final agreement between the parties is subject to a definitive share purchase agreement (SPA) between Swan, Pang Da and Youngman, which will contain certain conditions.

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About 30 minutes ago SWAN’s shareholders meeting started in Zeewolde, Holland. The questions are many and the future of SWAN if both Spyker and SAAB is sold is one big question.

From what we have heard there is a conference call planned for today between GM, the Chinese, SWAN and Saab. We are trying to find out more information about what solutions this call could produce.

Swedish Radio made a nice article about this:

The extra shareholders meeting was announced at the end of september and the idea behind it was to decide how the board of Saab Automobile, SWAN would be organized after the fact that the chinese would have become part-owners.

But since the end of september a lot of things have happened around Saab and SWAN. The first thing that was dissolved was the ownership issue, the chinese were as interested in becoming part-owners as a palm-tree wants to grow in the Sahara desert.

Negotiations were tough and after a while the rescue plan was presented for the chinese to own 100%, but this plan was crushed by General Motors.

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DI.se runs an article where a lot of people give their view on what would happen to the licenses Saab has obtained from GM. There are quite different views but GM has a pretty strong opinion about that. And I’d imagine they know best what the contracts look like.

“The situation is very clear: Saab is currently being restructured. Either they continue rebuilding or they go bankrupt. If the company goes bankrupt, technology licenses may not be sold because they are our property” , said GM spokesman James Cain.

I’d say this puts a bit of pressure on Pang Da and Youngman to get a deal done and not to speculate on a bankrupcy.

As usual, Simon Warburton of Just Auto has the best wrap up of events at Saab this week. There’s a lot of posturing going on behind the scenes on both sides, but all parties understand just how urgent the situation is. This could go any way at this point, and all we can do is wait. Hopefully this gives a little clarity on the situation. I advise everyone not to over analyze, all parties are trying to reach the best deal they can all agree upon.

From Just-Auto.com

Swedish government representatives say they have been in touch with General Motors to stress the importance of just how how many jobs are at stake following the US automaker’s decision not to continue with existing licence technologies should Saab enter 100% Chinese control.

GM’s decision has thrown the complex negotiations between Saab, Youngman and Pang Da into confusion, with crisis talks taking place this week in Stockholm in a bid to engineer a new solution acceptable to the Americans.

“We can’t go into details of the conversations [with GM], but the Swedish government told them a lot of jobs are at stake in Sweden, that we hope they can find a positive solution,” a spokeswoman for the Swedish Enterprise Ministry told just-auto.

Previous estimates have indicated should Saab finally go bankrupt, nearly 4,000 direct posts at the manufacturer would be lost as well as potentially up to 12,000 indirect jobs in the supply chain.

Read the full article here

A few weeks ago we found out that one of the most seen names in conjunction with Saab, Gunilla Gustavs, a woman who has worked at Saab for almost 20 years, is leaving Saab. She started her career at Saab in 1992, originally from Canada, she has represented Saab in an impressive way over the years. We wish Gunilla all the best at her new exciting job in Stockholm!

Gunilla was one of the first people I really got to know within the information department after the take-over of SU. She embraced the connection with us and has ever since been very helpful. She always took the time to talk to us and help us in so many ways. By allowing us to get in touch with the right people at Saab she helped us organize both the SU Days back in May and the October fest. On top of that she arranged so that SU could gain access to events and press-conferances that normally is privileged to press only.

I fell honored to call Gunilla my friend. The photo to the right is one I took at the Pang-Da press-conferance on the 27th of May. This is also when the production line started up again temporarily.

SaabsUnited has so much to thank Gunilla for and I don’t know where to start. She has promised me a an extensive interview so look forward to hearing about her exiting time at Saab. In the meanwhile here she is a few years ago with my favorite car, the Aero X at Geneva in 2007.