"It was a good meeting. It's always nice to meet people who are so much discussed in the media," Ms. Olofsson told SvD
Minister of Enterprise and Energy, Maud Olofsson
The Swedish Government needs to approve Mr. Antonov as a part owner of Saab before he can make the planned investments in Saab's parent company Swedish Automobile NV (previously known as Spyker Cars). But the Government has said earlier that they will wait for the decision of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and General Motors (GM), who also needs to approve Mr. Antonov, before the Government makes its decision. Ms. Olofsson stressed that this has not change despite the meeting on Tuesday.
"We have not had any opinion about Antonov earlier. It is not we who have stopped him from investing in Saab. It is GM and the EIB. If they say yes, the Government is also prepared to say yes. They are stopping the approval now," Maud Olofsson told DI/TT.
About the meeting Ms Olofsson said that Mr Antonov "wanted to talk about his thoughts on Saab and Saab's future and why he is eager to step in and invest".
When asked what impression she got of him, the Minister said that her impression was that he is entrepreneurial businessman and nice. She continued saying "there are always investors who have a feel for different industries and he is apparently interested in cars and also wants to do business. And that earns respect. He has a positive attitude towards Saab, which I think is good".
The Minister was also invited to Trollhättan when the delegation from Chinese Pang Da is expected to visit on Thursday, but change of plans suggest that the delegation from Pang Da will be in Stockholm on Thursday afternoon and the Minister will probably meet with the Chinese and Saab at the Ministry.
