Dagens Industri reports that the starting bid Chinese vehicle manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile placed on Saab January 27 is between SEK 2.2 and 3.2 billion. At the same time Swedish Radio P4 Väst reports that the bankruptcy administrators have set "impossible" conditions for a sale. Conditions which require an approval of the sale from General Motors.
Youngman's CEO Rachel Pang is expected to hold a press conference in Stockholm in Monday according to Dagens Industri.
"A detailed bid is expected to be ready at that time and she can present it to the public," said a source to Dagens Industri.
The Youngman bid is said to be from SEK 2.2 billion to 3.2 billion and will also include an assurance of continued production in Trollhättan.
Youngman would not comment on the bid but its spokesman in Sweden, Johan Nylén, told Swedish TV 4 Väst that they will work to get production going as quickly as possible and that they are waiting for an answer from the administrators.
But the question is if Youngman is waiting in vain. Swedish Radio P4 Väst reports that the administrators have set conditions that make a sale of the entire Saab business impossible and are now looking to sell Saab in parts.
"The administrators have practically set conditions that makes it impossible to conduct a full sale of Saab," said a source with good insight into the process to P4 Väst.
According to one source, the administrators require that a sale must be approved by General Motors.
The sources also say that the administrators have requested that the interested parties place bids on parts of the Saab business instead of entire Saab.
"The administrators have no intention to sell the estate as a whole, but they prefer selling it in parts. It is very surprising that they want to do it this way and completely unbelievable," one source said.
Swedish Radio P4 Väst writes that the administrators prefers that Volvo's owner Geely sets up a development centre in Trollhättan. Local Trollhättan newspaper TTELA reports that the negotiations between the administrators and Geely/Volvo is intensive, while the bid from Youngman is more or less being ignored. Another solution the administrators are said to be working for is that Chinese Beijing Automotive (BAIC) together with Panasonic start to build electric cars in Trollhättan.
"Yes, we are considering it, but it's a rather complicated business," said Mao Hai, vice president of Beijing Automotive Investment, to TTELA.
For me this is totally unbelievable. If this comes on top of everything that has happened to Saab the past years, then there must be a wide conspiracy against Saab. A conspiracy involving lawyers, courts, Ministries and the Government. And I refuse to believe that.
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.
