Filed under: Europe, GM, Saab, Earnings/Financials, Spyker
To paraphrase the once great weekend update anchor Chevy Chase, “Generalissimo Saab is still dead” and appears likely to stay that way. Bloomberg reports that Spyker is the last bidder standing to pick up the Swedish brand from General Motors, although Genii Capital and partner Bernie Eccelstone apparently haven’t given up yet. At this point, according to the news service, Spyker is the only party in active talks with The General as the process of shutting down Saab has already begun. Genii hopes to reopen talks with GM this week.
The Spyker bid reportedly includes having GM continue to hold a stake in Saab – a stipulation that the U.S. company will probably be averse to. Another problem could still revolve around handing over intellectual property to Russia, just as it did with the aborted attempt to sell Opel to Magna (the largest shareholder in Spyker is Russian chairman Vladimir Antonov). Given Saab’s continued lack of financial success over the years, it’s hard to see how Spyker (which has had its own problems to sort through) could make a go of it. With any luck, we’ll know the outcome of this sad saga this week, although we’d be less-than-surprised to see things drag on for a while yet.
[Source: Bloomberg | Image: Joe Raedle/Getty]
Report: Spyker last bidder GM considering for Saab… or is it? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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