A week or so ago, Saab had as many as 27 different persons on it’s dance card. Now that the initial tours are over and done with, we’re down to around a dozen, depending on who you read.
This much we knew. I wrote about it here the other day.
But there are some interesting news stories doing the rounds and they flesh things out a little more.
This first of these stories is from Sweden’s E24. Tompa’s been kind enough to send through a translation:
Ten looking to buy Saab
The number of prospective buyers of Saab has shrunk from 27 to 10. “Everything is really intense right now” say Guy Lofalk to E24.
We have several processes underway at the moment:
a “carve out”, were we make ourselves independent from GM,
the reconstruction itself ,and
the sales process that is run by Deutsche Bank.
27 interested parties got to sign a confidentiality agreement, but only 10 are now involved in the process, according to Guy Lofalk.
-There is a very strong and concrete interest from several prospective buyers. So far so good, one would have to say, says Guy Lofalk.
Are they interested in parts or the whole of Saab Automobile?
-What is being discussed right now is to buy all Saab stock, to make a complete buy-out.
At the creditors meeting in the beginning of April, Guy Lofalk made it clear that the goal is to make Saab an independent company that is intended to be sold in June.
-The plan can of course come to be revised, but at the moment it is unchanged, say Guy Lofalk.
Rumours of who are interested in Saab are many. Recently Göteborgs Tidning reported that one of the interested parties is the Norwegian state. Also an un-named Swedish consortium have been pointed out as potential buyers according to Bloomberg News.
Besides that, there are supposed to be two investment companies and a private investor interested, according to the car manufacturer.
The next story is from AFP, via Google News.
Up to 12 investors are in the running to buy Swedish automaker Saab, a union leader told AFP on Wednesday, two months after its struggling US owner General Motors put it up for sale.
That union official is our old mate, Paul Akerlund from IF Metall. Akerlund is always worth listening to. He doesn’t talk that often, but like JAJ, when he talks he doesn’t mess around.
“The plan is still at the end of June to have this all resolved and hopefully have a new owner for Saab,” he said, warning that any new owner should not cut jobs in Sweden and relocate production elsewhere.
As Kroum observed in comments, that last statement is a quiet nod to the fact that at least one of the remaining bidders is a company with overseas manufacturing capabilities.
Here’s hoping it never comes to that. I have a feeling the Swedish government will place a lot of pressure on any prospective new owner so that they keep jobs in Sweden in return for loan guarantees.
It’s interesting times, people. Things are definitely brewing!!!
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