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SAAB

Chinese firms stand by Saab bail-out deal

The two Chinese companies pledged to bail out cash-strapped carmaker Saab said on Tuesday that they are still onboard, despite the announcement by owner Swedish Automobile that the deal was off.

Pang Da Automobile Trade and Youngman Lotus Automobile struck an agreement in June with Saab’s owner, Swedish Automobile (Swan), to inject 245 million euros ($335 million) into the ailing carmaker in exchange for half the company.

But disagreements ensued and on Sunday, Swan said it had terminated the deal “in view of the fact that Pang Da and Youngman failed to confirm their commitment to the subscription agreement.”

But Pang Da contradicted that account, saying in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday that it considered the agreement legally binding.

“Currently our company is still enforcing the agreement,” it said.

Youngman also said the agreement remained valid and it was “regretful” that Swan had announced the deal was dead, the official People’s Daily newspaper said, citing a statement.

“We are willing to continue to help Saab and provide short-term as well as mid- to long-term funding to Saab directly via other arrangements,” the report quoted the company as saying.

Swan has complained that the Chinese partners had also failed to honour a deal to provide bridge financing of 70 million euros to Saab while it undergoes a three-month restructuring process that began in September.

Both Chinese companies said they would continue their negotiations with Swan.

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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.