GM and Koenigsegg Group Sign Stock Purchase Agreement For Saab Sale
The bidding for GM's Saab division has finally reached a conclusion, with a Swedish consortium lead by supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg announced as the final buyer for the struggling automaker. General Motors has been looking for a buyer for Saab since late last year, as it tried to cut brands and steer clear of bankruptcy. As it filed Chapter 11 earlier this year, GM said it would dispose of Saab by the end of the year, and that it had three bidders interested in taking over the brand, in which it initially invested in 1990 and later took complete control.
Today, GM confirmed that it has signed a stock purchase agreement with Koenigsegg Group AB regarding the sale of 100% of the shares of Saab. The deal is expected to conclude in the next months and will then secure Saab's future, with the Swedish automaker set to exit legal reorganization shortly. The stock purchase agreement will be subject to agreed closing conditions, namely, the guarantee of funding commitments from the Swedish government, as well as transitional assistance from GM.
As part of the proposed transaction, GM and Saab will continue to share technology and services during a defined time period. This will be managed through licenses and service agreements.
GM has also reportedly set aside $500 million in assets and cash to fund Saab's consolidation at its Trollhattan, Sweden facility. That price includes setting up production of the Saab 9-3X as well as the Saab 9-4X crossover, and the coming 2010 Saab 9-5 sedan, the long-awaited replacement for the brand's largest four-door.
The GM funding will be paid back by the new owners if they can turn Saab around. If they can, they will be the first to show a profit at Saab in more than 15 years.
[GM]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Ford, GM Nearly Un-Swedened: Saab, Volvo Sales Near?
Volvo and Saab could be enjoying--is that the right word?--their last days in the U.S. auto industry, if the latest reports from across the globe are accurate.
At Volvo, a sale by Ford Motor Company to a company not in North America is getting closer. Automotive News says that the car company has put on hold some financial negotiations with the Swedish government while it examines several sales scenarios involving parent company Ford. Automotive News' sources tell it that bidders were being toured around Gothenburg headquarters and given management presentations. China's Changan Auto says it's not among those bidders.
Meanwhile in Trollhattan, Saab has attracted interest from bidders around the world. The bidders may or may not include Chinese automaker Geely; the Detroit News says Geely is interested, but Geely itself said in a stock filing it would not bid on Saab nor Volvo, for that matter. Then a secret source told the News that it would indeed bid for Saab, but told the paper in that uniquely oblique Chinese way that guarantees nothing.
Ford and General Motors have been angling to sell their Swedish brands since last fall, when the financial crisis hit the auto industry like a 35-mph barrier hits some notably unprepared Chinese-made vehicles. Volvo is being prepared for a sale by assuming control once more over its product and financial decisions, and by requesting a $266 million loan from the Swedish government in case it needs backup financing. Saab, meanwhile, has been actively on the block while GM hacks away at its global enterprises to return to its core U.S. brands in its ongoing, Federally-backed restructuring.
Our plan? Sweden buys both companies, shrinks the workforce, eliminates the near-complete product duplication and sells the single brand and a single plant to a single interested automaker. Sugar daddies still exist in the auto world, as Fiat's Sergio Marchionne seems to prove. What's a single Swedish girl got to do to get some attention around here?
[Automotive News, Detroit News]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
