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GENERAL MOTORS

BAIC deal allows Saab to operate through first quarter: report

Saab Automobile reportedly received 1.4 billion kronor ($200 million) from China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC) in exchange for access to some of the Swedish automaker’s technology.

Published: 15 December 2009 08:19 CET

According to the Dagens Industri newspaper, the money landed in Saab accounts last Friday.

Sources tell the newspaper that the money is sufficient to keep Saab running until the end of the first quarter in 2010.

News of the deal, which involved Saab offering technology from its 9-3 and 9-5 models to BAIC, was made official on Monday.

When the last Saab 9-5 convertible rolls off the assembly line in Trollhättan in western Sweden in a few months, the pressing machines will be disassembled and sent to China.

The Chinese company said the deal was an “important milestone for BAIC and Saab’s strategic cooperation” and allowed for the two carmakers to explore additional cooperative ventures in the future.

Saab will also help BAIC develop its own-brand cars using the Swedish automaker’s technology, it said.

The deal comes after BAIC, China’s fifth largest automaker, and Swedish high-performance carmaker Koenigsegg gave up their joint bid for Saab last month, citing costly delays in the transaction.

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GENERAL MOTORS

US judge rejects Saab bankruptcy lawsuit

A US court has dismissed a $3 billion lawsuit by previous Saab owner Spyker alleging that US auto giant General Motors (GM) was responsible for causing the Swedish carmaker's bankruptcy.

Published: 11 June 2013 08:21 CEST
US judge rejects Saab bankruptcy lawsuit

The Dutch sports car maker filed suit against GM in August 2012, claiming the US automaker interfered in a transaction that would have allowed Saab to restructure and stay afloat because GM wanted to dominate the Chinese market.

Saab, a former GM subsidiary, filed for bankruptcy in December 2011 after teetering on the edge of financial ruin for almost two years. A last-ditch bid to raise funds in China, with the group Youngman, was nixed by GM over technology transfer issues.

“GM’s actions had the direct and intended objective of driving Saab Automobile into bankruptcy, a result of GM’s tortiously interfering with a transaction… to restructure and remain a solvent growing concern,” Spyker said in the statement at the time.

GM filed a motion to have the lawsuit thrown out and on Monday a federal judge in Detroit agreed.

“General Motors had a contractual right to approve or disapprove the proposed transaction,” U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain said in a hearing in Detroit, according to the Reuters news agency.

“The court is going to grant the motion to dismiss the matter.”

Spyker CEO Victor Muller refused to say whether or not he would appeal the ruling.

“We’ll consider an appeal as soon as soon as we have the written ruling,” Muller told the TT news agency via text message.

Muller has previously explained that the $3 billion figure associate with the lawsuit corresponds to what Saab would have been worth had GM not scuttled the deal with Youngman.

TT/The Local/dl

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