IMPORTANT NEWS: National Electric Vehicle Sweden has agreed to buy the assets of Saab Automobile and the sale is expected to be finalized during the summer.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Solution on financial problem finally within reach

According to TTELA, The Swedish National Debt Office (NDO) received a deal this morning between Saab and a foreign partner about the funding of Saab. The NDO has no objections to the deal and has handed  over the papers to the Swedish Government which will have the final say. So now Saab's faith is in the hands of the Government.

Picture from TTELA 

As far as I can understand, the deal involves getting a loan from the foreign partner, and at the same time reducing the loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) with the same amount or more. Then the NDO can free up some of the collateral they have on Saab. Collateral which the foreign partner can use to secure the new loan. This will give Saab fresh cash that can be used on producing cars. As opposed to the EIB loan which can only be used on research and development. But this also means that there will be less money to develop future Saab cars. In other words, this is just a short-term solution.

The Swedish Government will discuss the proposed deal later this afternoon.

The NDO is still working on the investigation of Antonov to see if they can accept him and his groups as an part owner of Saab. This will be ready next week, and then we will know more about Saab's long-term funding.