Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SAAB

Sports car maker buys Saab: report

Sporty Swedish car maker Koenigsegg has teamed up with a group of Norwegian investors to buy Saab from General Motors, according to state broadcaster Sveriges Television's news show Rapport.

Published: 11 June 2009 17:15 CEST
Sports car maker buys Saab: report

Koenigsegg has signed a declaration of intent with regard to the purchase, with more detailed negotiations set to continue over the coming months.

The sports car maker, based in Ängelholm in southwest Sweden, has secured the backing of Norwegian investors, according to Rapport.

Koenigsegg has long been named as one of the parties interested in snapping up the ailing Swedish auto giant.

Earlier on Thursday, the Swedish trade ministry indicated that a sale was near when it released a statement to the effect that negotiations could now begin over state guarantees for loans to Saab. The Swedish National Debt Office (Riksgälden) is to act on behalf on the Swedish state in opening loan negotiations with Saab Automobile in order to pave the way for lending from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

“We have always said that when Saab got a new owner Riksgälden would be given the task of negotiating loan guarantees, if such are required. Following today’s decision we are well prepared for that,” said state secretary Jöran Hägglund in a statement.

Koenigsegg was founded in 1994 by Swede Christian von Koenigsegg, 36.

Video: Jeremy Clarkson test drives a Koenigsegg

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CARS

Former Swedish Saab bosses appear in court

Swedish car maker Saab's former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson and the firm's former head lawyer Kristina Geers have appeared in court in Vänersborg in west Sweden, accused of falsifying financial documents shortly before the company went bankrupt in 2011.

Published: 2 September 2015 14:46 CEST
Updated: 2 September 2015 16:26 CEST
Former Swedish Saab bosses appear in court
Saab's former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson. Photo: Karin Olander/TT
The pair are accused of falsifying the paperwork at the height of the Swedish company's financial difficulties at the start of the decade.
 
A third person – who has not been named in the Swedish media – is accused of assisting them by issuing false invoices adding up to a total of 30 million kronor ($3.55m).
 
According to court documents, the charges relate to the firm's business in Ukraine and the paperwork in question was signed just before former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson resigned.
 
Both Jonsson and Saab's former head lawyer Kristina Geers have admitted signing the papers but denied knowledge of the Ukranian firm implicated in the case.
 
All three suspects deny all the charges against them.
 

Saab's former head lawyer Kristina Geers. Photo:  Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT
 
Saab filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2011, after teetering on the edge of collapse for nearly two years.
 
Chief prosecutor Olof Sahlgren told the court in Vänersborg on Wednesday that the alleged crimes took place in March 2011, when Saab was briefly owned by the Dutch company Spyker Cars.
  
It was eventually bought by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (Nevs), a Chinese-owned company after hundreds of staff lost their jobs.
 
The car maker, which is based in west Sweden, has struggled to resolve serious financial difficulties by attracting new investors since the takeover.
 
In October 2014 it announced it had axed 155 workers, close to a third of its workforce.
 
Since 2000, Saab automobile has had no connection with the defence and aeronautics firm with the same name. It only produces one model today, the electric 9-3 Aero Sedan, mainly targeting the Chinese market.