By October 14 China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is supposed to decide whether to approve Chinese companies Youngman and Pang Da's plans to become part owners of Saab's parent company Swedish Automobile. But also the Swedish Government with its National Debt Office, the European Investment Bank and General Motors need to approve any major ownership changes in Saab. Now Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reports that Saab is having a hard time obtaining all needed information from Chinese Youngman.
"Things are progressing slowly, especially for the family-owned Youngman which is not used to disclosing sensitive information about financial figures such as sales and profits," says Anna Petre, head of public affairs at Saab.
Anna Petre is responsible for obtaining all the information Sweden's National Debt Office needs from the Chinese companies to make its ownership review. Despite many contacts at Youngman's financial department, Petre has a very limited knowledge of the company.
By the end of this week, the information must have reached the National Debt Office to enable it to make a decision before October 14, when the decision from the NDRC is expected.
"I asked to get the audited financial statements from them. And they asked what it meant that it would be audited. They work by other terms and in a different way than we do," Petre tells DI.
There is a great difference between Youngman and Pang Da. Pang Da is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and used to sharing financial information. On Tuesday the company gave its details to Anna Petre who collects it and sends it to the National Debt Office.
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