On Thursday the Vänersborg District Court rejected Saab's application for voluntary reconstruction. The reason for the rejection was, among other things, that the court was not convinced that Saab would be able to secure funding to go through a reconstruction and turn the business around. The court did for instance say that the long-term funding from Chinese partners were very uncertain. Then I guess the court didn't know what Svenska Dagbladet reports today...
Svenska Dagbladet has been in contact with Rachel Pang, who is in the management of Youngman, and she tells SvD that Youngman and Pang Da's plans to invest EUR 245 million in Saab has been approved by the local branch of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in Hangzhou, the city where Youngman is located.
"Last week we got an approval from the local part of the NDRC in Hangzhou," Rachel Pang said to SvD.
This means that the first hurdle is passed. And next week Youngman expects that the NDRC committee in the province Zhejiang, the province where Youngman is located, will also approve the plans.
"Next week on Wednesday we hope to get approval from the Zhejiang province," Rachel Pang said.
Then the second hurdle will be passed. The last and most important hurdle is the NDRC department in Beijing. According to Rachel Pang the signals from Beijing have been positive. And one can expect a decision about a month from now.
"We are constantly in contact with the NDRC in Beijing. We have gotten positive signals from them. I have a good feeling about this," Rachel Pang said.
If the NDRC in Beijing approves the investment, then two more government decision authorities need to approve the plan, but these are expected to be quick when the NDRC has approved.
The Vänersborg District Court also noted that it did not consider the agreements between Saab and Youngman and Pang Da as binding deals. But according to Martin Larsson, head of business development at Saab, the deals are as binding as these kinds of deals can be.
"We have binding deals with Pang Da and Youngman. We signed a share subscription agreement and a shareholders agreement in July," Martin Larsson tells TTELA.
I would say that this is very uplifting and encouraging signals from China! And hopefully the Court Of Appeal will see that an approval of Chinese authorities is a very probable outcome and that the money from China is in fact only one month or so away!
A blog fueled by enthusiasm about Saab, the greatest car company between the North and the South Pole. And their cars, which probably is the only cars that would start on a cold and crispy South Pole morning.
