SaabsUnited.com

BREAKING NEWS:

UPDATE: An article from Bloomberg: – Spyker Said to Plan Asset Sale to Antonov Company to Raise Funds.

Highlights:

• Spyker Cars NV plans to sell Saab Automobile property to a company controlled by Russian investor Vladimir Antonov, and then lease it back, to save the cash-strapped carmaker from bankruptcy, two people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg.
• The Swedish government, which must approve the plan, may make a decision as early as today
• The deal would provide a financial lifeline to Saab, which has been forced to halt production amid a payment dispute with suppliers.
• The funding to purchase Saab’s property would come from one or more banks controlled by Antonov, likely Bankas Snoras in Lithuania or Latvijas Krajbanka in Latvia.
• Spyker is in “discussions with a financial institution,” the Zeewolde, Netherlands-based company said in a statement today. “The outcome of the discussions is still uncertain and subject to the approval of the Swedish National Debt Office.”

Government Guarantee:

• Saab had intended as late as yesterday to borrow money directly from Bankas Snoras.
• The plan was adjusted after it became clear Lithuanian financial regulators would not quickly approve the proposal, the people said.
• The Swedish government is involved because it’s guaranteeing Saab’s 400 million-euro loan from the European Investment Bank, the European Union’s lending arm.

Saab Collateral

• The Swedish government has agreed to let Saab free up collateral now used to back the EIB loan, of which Saab so far has drawn 217 million euros, the people said.
• The freed-up collateral allows Saab to sell property to Antonov’s company. The property to be sold would include at least parts of Saab’s factory in Trollhaettan in southwestern Sweden, where the carmaker is based. The plan would allow the struggling carmaker to pay suppliers and restart production while it waits for clearance to bring in Antonov as a shareholder and investor. Antonov is ready to invest at least 50 million euros in Saab, Lars Carlstrom, his spokesman in Sweden, said April 8. Antonov has agreed to cap his stake in Saab at below 30 percent, Carlstrom said then. Antonov in February announced plans to buy Spyker’s sports-car unit. Saab, which introduced the new 9-5 sedan last year and in the coming months plans to roll out the 9-4X crossover and 9-5 wagon, aims to sell 120,000 cars and become profitable by 2012. Its best year was in 2006, when it sold 133,000 autos.

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From earlier in the day:

Spyker Cars confirms that discussions are in place with a financial institution for the sale and rent-back of Saab’s facilities. The outcome of these discussions is still unsure and needs to approved by the NDO. More information to arrive shortly.

Thanx to JL and TT

STOCKHOLM. Spyker Cars bekräftar att man för diskussioner med en finansiell institution om att sälja och hyra tillbaka Saabs fastigheter. Utgången av förhandlingarna är ännu osäkra och måste godkännas av Riksgäldskontoret. Vidare besked väntas inom kort.

My estimation of this is good, this is a fast way for SAAB to release large amounts of money enabling SAAB to not only start up production but also secure finances for period of time. I am of course speculating but it seams as if the government has let go some of its extra safety measures for guaranteeing the EIB loans.

My gut feeling is telling me that this is a development in the right direction!
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UPDATE:
A tip from the comments about this:

A sale-and-leaseback is typically a commercial real estate transaction in which one party, often a corporation, sells its corporate real estate assets to another party, such as an institutional investor, or a real estate investment trust (REIT), and then leases the property back at a rental rate and lease term that is acceptable to the new investor/landlord. The lease term and rental rate are based on the new investor/landlord’s financing costs, the lessee’s credit rating, and a market rate of return based on the initial cash investment by the new investor/landlord.
The reasons and advantages for a seller/lessee are varied, but the most common are:

• Help finance expansion of the existing business, purchase new plant equipment, or invest in new business opportunities.
• Help pay down debt and improve the company’s balance sheet.
• Help reduce the seller/lessee’s business income tax liability caused by the appreciation in value (land only) of its corporate real estate assets. In addition, the seller/lessee as a tenant can deduct all rent payments as a legitimate business expense on its annual tax returns.

The advantages for an investor/landlord are:

• Fair return on the investment in the form of rent during the lease term, and ownership of a depreciable asset already occupied by a reliable tenant.
• Long-term, fully leased asset with a guaranteed income stream.
• For income tax purposes the investor/landlord can take an expense deduction for an investment in a depreciable property to allow for the recovery of the cost of the investment.

Source: Wikipedia, thanx Tim