The Saab auto group said yesterday it will be able to pay staff and some suppliers’ bills with cash from a Chinese order but is still seeking funds to resume production.
“A Chinese company placed an order to purchase 582 Saab vehicles with a total value of €13 million. The full pre-payment is expected to be received this week, providing Saab Automobile with short-term funding to pay the wages to its employees and make partial supplier payments,” Swedish Automobile, a Dutch company formerly known as Spyker, said.
It did not identify the Chinese buyer.
The parent company and Saab were continuing “discussions with several parties to secure additional short-term funding to restart production,” Swedish Automobile said.
“There can, however, be no assurance that these discussions will be successful or that additional short-term funding will be obtained,” it warned.
The announcement was welcomed positively by markets and Swedish Automobile’s shares bounced 27.51 per cent to €1.23 on the Amsterdam stock exchange at 0800 GMT. Swedish Automobile announced on Thursday that Saab had run out of cash and did not have enough money to pay its staff.
About 1,500 blue collar workers set to receive were immediately affected, with the rest of the firm’s 3,700 staff to follow suit.
Two union representatives and a legal advisor left Saab’s board at the weekend following the announcement, leaving Swedish Automobile head Victor Muller as the sole member of Saab’s board.
“I am pleased to announce this agreement, as it secures part of the necessary short-term funding for Saab Automobile and allows us to pay our employees’ wages before the end of this month,” he said in yesterday’s statement.
“I respect the decision of the union members to resign from the board of Saab Automobile,” he added. “We very much regret the current cash shortage which is causing undeserved hardship to all and we are working relentlessly to resolve the current situation.”
Mr Muller also said Russian financier Vladimir Antonov, a former Spyker shareholder who repeatedly said he wanted to invest in Saab, was still interested in participating in the company.
Mr Antonov still needs to be approved by the European Investment Bank, which loaned money to Saab, and by the carmaker’s former owner General Motors. Sweden’s national debt office, which has a say in Saab’s ownership structure because it guaranteed the EIB’s €400 million loan, recommended “to clear him over eight weeks ago”, Swedish Automobile said.
“Once clearance has been obtained, Mr Antonov can provide much needed financing and/or capital to Swedish Automobile/Saab Automobile at this critical time. We are pushing hard to obtain this vital clearance as soon as practically possible,” the company said.
Iconic Swedish brand Saab was saved at the last minute at the beginning of 2010 when it was bought by small Dutch firm Spyker from US giant GM.
In its 20 years as a GM brand, Saab never turned a profit.
The new owner had big ambitions for Saab but the carmaker has since then lurched from one cash crisis to another.
Earlier this month Saab announced it was entering a partnership with two Chinese businesses – car distributor Pang Da and manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile – which was to generate investment of €245 million.
A previous deal with a Chinese firm fell through.