New administrator appointed
December 14, 2011 in News
Lars-Henrik Andersson, that is the name of the new administrator appointed by the district court of Vänersborg to manage Saab during the reconstruction.
Official day for appointment is on the 19th of December
Lars-Henrik is part-owner and has worked at Lindahl’s office in Stockholm since 1994. His main field of work involves company purchases, funding and reconstruction. Lars-Henrik is also part of the competence-team for corporate finance, insolvency and reconstruction.
Quijote said on December 14, 2011
I think its safe to assume that the continuance of reconstruction will be granted, otherwise why even bother appointing a new administrator.
Looking good Saab!!!
scand said on December 14, 2011
probably not safe to assume anything. Note , he starts on Monday, not today.
Ronnie_Rad said on December 14, 2011
Well it wouldn’t make sense to appoint an administrator on the eve of a court hearing on the very matter the administrator would be appointed for in the first place unless the court has already reviewed Saab’s case or has reasons to believe the reconstruction will be successful.
I personally believe the court wanted an open hearing just to clarify some points regarding Youngman before reconstruction continues.
I think Quijote was just reading the tree leaves by seeing this as probable cause for a continuation of reconstruction, rightfully so.
We shall see.
Angelo V. said on December 15, 2011
Agreed. I guess it’s never safe to assume anything, but I have to believe the powers that be expect this to continue into 2012 if they are appointing a new Administrator at this late time.
scand said on December 15, 2011
All they agreed to, is to rubber stamp a non contested change from administrator A to administrator B , to take place after D Day.
Whether he actually has a job to do from monday on , will depend on the funds arriving before then, and a plan that the courts deem to be viable and has a chance of success.
Henrik B. said on December 15, 2011
The thee leaves…
CHeers!
katar1na said on December 15, 2011
The correction makes sense… was confused
Red J said on December 15, 2011
Henrik,
do you mean tea leaves?
Hans H said on December 15, 2011
Or the three tree leaves?
JasonPowell said on December 14, 2011
That was fast.
Saabman900 said on December 14, 2011
Exactly what I was just about to point out.
aeroalfie said on December 14, 2011
I wondered what happened to him after he left Celtic :0)
hilmar said on December 14, 2011
I hope all involved parties will now work together instead against each other. Come on people at GM, SweGov and elsewhere. The time of personal quarrels is over, accept that Saab goes its way with Chinese investors – in any case they seem to recognize the value of this brand so let them finish their project. This great effort should be rewarded !
rod wilson said on December 14, 2011
Well said hilmar
ivo 71 said on December 15, 2011
Well, if the Court give their nods then this new admin (shall we call him LHA?) could be a serious improvement over GL. He is not only a specialist in insolvency stuff but also in M&A (mergers and acquisitions) work. Since VM is a (pretty brilliant, by all accounts
) M&A lawyer as well, they should at least be able to communicate on the same wavelength. But first things first.
Ivo
Angelo V. said on December 15, 2011
Thank you. Very nicely said.
Toby K said on December 14, 2011
so much toime wasted for poor Saab while lawyers and government officials and bankers get fat.
Thank god you can’t kill a Griffin with greed or carelessness.
davidgmills said on December 15, 2011
Don’t think any lawyers are getting fat. This is a thankless job being an administrator.
Carter Ledbetter said on December 15, 2011
…and based on what we have heard, Heer Lofalk doesn’t appear to deserve any thanks. /grin. Crossing fingers… I want SAAB to have a long and illustrious future!
Angelo V. said on December 15, 2011
It doesn’t have to be a thankless job. If it’s done well, with integrity, thanks will be forthcoming. If it’s done like a bull in a china shop, resistance will be met.
Jeff said on December 15, 2011
Ha, ask to check the list of restaurants he ate at in the US david
. Lofalk seems to have had a nice little trip to Detroit and DC, despite the fact that a simple phone call would probably have sufficed had he checked before hopping on a plane on Saab’s dime.
tcastaldi said on December 15, 2011
Totally off topic, but I’m not sure where else to post this. Where is Jason Castriota??? Haven’t heard a peep out of him since the money problems started. Is he still around and working with SAAB??? He had become SAAB’s spokesman for design, even with the 9-5 and other models he didn’t design. Any idea on his status?
adams said on December 15, 2011
Good question. In all honesty I wouldn’t mind seeing someone other than Castriota in the design director’s seat at Saab. Speaking of design where’s Simon Padian these days?
I also wonder about guys like Kjell ac Bergstrom and Mats Fagerhag. Are they still hanging tough at Saab? To me, they are the ones that are most capable of creating “Saab Saabs” once the current financial mess gets straightened out.
montahue said on December 15, 2011
Probably we have not heard from Castriota for the same reason we have not heard from any other guy in charge of design or for that matter any one in charge of the tech stuff -is that for what reason would they partake in the economical saab-struggle? Since saab been in a constant economical and what not struggle since april, what could Castriota have done to to improve things? And even if he has “left the ship” im sure his design for the next 9-3 is finished and future saab design should do just fine without him.
montahue said on December 15, 2011
To put it short. Castriota is a hired designer not a spokes person for saab
adams said on December 15, 2011
Agreed. I wasn’t looking for Castriota or any of the technical guys (Fagerhag, Bergstrom, etc) to be spokespersons on the financial happenings of Saab. I just thought hearing more from them over the last few months (in regards to their areas of expertise) might have been a nice break from all of the financial stuff. Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to confirm that they are still with Saab and chomping at the bit to prove the naysayers wrong with the release of the best Saab ever in 2013-14?
tcastaldi said on December 15, 2011
I agree Adams, that’s more of what I was looking for too. Just a face to show that work, planning, something is being done during this downtime due to finances. Whenever I google his name, I find nothing current at all. It’s like he fell off the face of the earth. Just curious if he was still around with SAAB, he became very visible and then, nothing…
Red J said on December 15, 2011
Hi,
from what I know those three guys are still working at or for Saab. I mean, the development of the new 9-3 hasn’t stopped during the production stop, so they had lots to do, and at the same time they had to do it with extreme financial constrains.
For me, it’s OK that they work in silence. In this case, no news are good news.
BTW, in one of the other Saab blogs (I really don’t remember) there is a post on one of the guys from the Castriota team, that has worked quite intensively on the NG 9-3 in the past months.
Swade said on December 15, 2011
G’day gents.
Just thought I’d drop in and reassure that all the people mentioned here – Jason, Mats, Kjell and other key personnel (Knut, Matthias, etc) – are all still on board and working within the constraints we currently fund ourselves in.
It’s hard to talk about future product when the future is up in the air. We have very sensitive relationships with stakeholders to consider and one way to add some salt to their wounds would be to talk excitedly about future products when we/they have very real issues to deal with in the present.
Rest assured that we’ll be talking as much as we can about that stuff when the time is right.
ryanonsrc said on December 15, 2011
It looks like the situation has went from very bad, to manageable, to complete chaos, and back to manageable … sheesh!
But, seeing Lofalk request to have a new administrator put in place, and backing down from his original request to end reconstruction, *and* having a new administrator put in charge: is a very positive turn of events. On top of all that, Youngman has been sending money into Saab. Not a bad week, I must say. Granted, next week has a lot of us a bit fearful of what might happen, but It looks like Victor Muller, Rachel Pang, and everyone else involved have the cards stacked in their favor. One wild card, however, is GM. And I guess the one concern that we have to consider is what will the court say about how GM might react to the new deal.
No 9 said on December 15, 2011
Alleluia!
100%Saab said on December 15, 2011
Agree. Wish this had been done in October.
Aero1 said on December 15, 2011
I asked a similar question in another post: I am interested in knowing who designed the last and current 9-5? On the above new Administrator- Thank God! SAAB All The Way!
SaabKen said on December 15, 2011
IIRC Simon Padian and Anthony Lo were involved with the current 9-5 design …..
katar1na said on December 15, 2011
This guy worked for some years for the Swedish Government.
He seems like an intelligent and nice person… Lets hope that is a good start
zippy said on December 15, 2011
Just when we think the patient is about to be declared dead……….
There’s ALOT of love out there for Saab.
Alex Lee said on December 15, 2011
I have once again lost the plot(sorry) but is it still nessersary to have the money from Youngman on the bank account today? I had read a lot about this during the week.
Red J said on December 15, 2011
Hi,
from my point of view, everyone is now waiting for Monday. It would be best if Money would start flowing to a Saab account and wages could be paid before Monday. But as the decision has been postponed to Monday, I think the Chinese have two more days to get the (or some) money on Saab’s account.
Alex Lee said on December 15, 2011
Yes my thoughts to. But if the wages are not payed this will surely influance any desision to be made by the judge?
Red J said on December 15, 2011
I think the argumentation of Mr. Lofalk makes much sense, if Saab has no money to finance the time in reorganization, then there is no point to continue that process.
VM, YM and Saab know that their no.1 priority is to pay wages ASAP, and they are working to achieve that.
Alex Lee said on December 15, 2011
Thanks Red.
Thylmuc said on December 15, 2011
If that can be said, Andersson looks more like a Saab guy to me.
I wonder if Saab might really now benefit from the Chinese government’s plans to invest 300 billion/milliard dollars in the Western manufacturing industries. They want to set up two funds, one for the US and one for the EU which will buy shares in companies. Interesting development.
michaelb said on December 15, 2011
Monday at the latest, money has to be there, and salaries paid, and additional liquidity. Otherwise forget it to continue reconstruction.
Other topic: Maybe pure coincidence, maybe more. China introduced additional import tarifs for cars produced in the US. BMW pays 2.0%, Mercedes 2.7%, Chrysler 8.8%, and ….. GM 12.9% ! I am sure GM produces most of its cars sold in China locally, but their Cadillac exports and other very expansive vehicles like the big SUV’s may be affected. If you ask me, this is a fine sign towards Detroit. Let’s hope they understand.
Richard Allan said on December 15, 2011
And the circus continues!
Lars-Henrik Andersson has said he doesn’t want the job…
Saabissimo said on December 15, 2011
This gets crazier by the minute. Why does he first accept, then changes his mind?
http://www.svd.se/naringsliv/saabs-nye-rekonstruktor-gar-ocksa_6711531.svd
saabserb said on December 15, 2011
Unprofessional behavior! Nothing else! Shameless!