SHARE
COPY LINK
SAAB CASH CRISIS

SAAB

Saab production resumes in Sweden

After seven-weeks of silence, the assembly lines at Saab Automobile's factory in Trollhättan in western Sweden rumbled to life again on Friday thanks to help from new Chinese partner Pang Da.

Saab production resumes in Sweden

Production at the facility, which has been shuttered for nearly two months as the Swedish automaker struggled to deal with a prolonged liquidity crisis, resumed around 10:30am on Friday, according to a statement from Saab-owner Spyker

A delegation from China’s Pang Da, including CEO Pang Qinghua, was on hand for the occasion.

Pang Da’s initial transfer of €30 million ($42 million) for the purchase of 1,300 cars, provided Saab with the funding needed to restart production.

On Thursday, Qinghua, along with Saab chair Victor Muller, meet with Sweden’s enterprise minister Maud Olofsson to discuss the new arrangement between the Swedish automaker and the Chinese distributor.

Previously, Saab-owner Spyker has described Pang Da as “China’s largest publicly traded automobile distributor with over 1,100 dealerships nationwide”.

Following the meeting, which Muller described as “excellent”, Olofsson said she felt the exchange of information had been useful.

“Pang Da spoke of the possibilities they see for Saab to enter the Chinese market. The company is an interesting partner considering that sales are what Saab needs to increase,” she told the TT news agency.

Olofsson also inquired about the future of Saab production in Sweden.

“They answered that even if Saab has production in China, production in Sweden will continue to be important,” she said.

According to an initial framework agreement, Pang Da will take an equity stake in Spyker of €65 million at €4.19 per share, representing up to 24 percent of Spyker’s outstanding shares.

While the first €30 million is enough to get production moving, the final details of the agreement still need to be ironed out.

In addition, Sweden’s National Debt Office (Riksgälden) must approve Pang Da’s eventual ownership stake. While representatives from both companies also met with Debt Office officials on Thursday, final approval could take weeks.

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.

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.