Saab’s parent company Swedish Automobile N.V. [Swan] said on Friday that it has agreed to sell the company to China’s Pang Da and Youngman.
If the deal goes through, the Chinese will own Sweden’s car industry bar Koenigsegg as Volvo was sold to Geely in 2009 – admittedly at the much higher price of US$2 billion dollars than the €100 million (US$141.7 million) Pang Da and Youngman are willing to pay for acquiring 100% of Saab Automobile and Saab GB shares.
After the last turn of events and with the court appointed administrator pushing for the carmaker to be declared bankrupt, Saab’s CEO, Victor Muller, was left with no options but to renege on his earlier decision to terminate the July deal and accept last week’s offer to sell the carmaker.
At this point, the two parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is valid until November 15, as long as the restructuring process continues. The final deal, which stipulates that the sum will be paid in installments, is subject to receiving approval from Chinese authorities and other Saab shareholders.
After the agreement, the court-appointed administrator, Guy Lofalk, withdrew his proposal that the reorganization process and Saab’s court-ordered protection from creditors be terminated.
For the sake of Saab and its employees, we hope that this is the final epidose in the long and turbulent ride that has brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy more times that we can remember.
If you scroll down, you can hear what Victor Muller told Sveriges Radio after the deal was announced.
Lyssna: Victor Muller om att Saab blir kinesiskt