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 28, 2011

Updated: Muller and Jonsson are off to China

Update: Dagens Industri writes that Victor Muller has confirmed to the news agency TT that he is in Beijing on behalf of Saab. 

According to Dagens Industri, Victor Muller and Jan Åke Jonsson last night checked in to a flight to Helsinki with a probable transfer to Hong Kong. In China they will try to reach an agreement with a Chinese car manufacturer to sell licenses and cooperation:

DI met Victor Muller and Jan Åke Jonsson at the airport on Wednesday evening, by the check-in to Helsinki for a possible transfer further eastward. None of them wished to comment on the trip.
According to DI's knowledge, the goal is sale of licenses and cooperation on Saab's new platform Phoenix, which among others is used in the new 9-3 model.
The trip to China may also mean that Saab can solve the long-term financial problems, by admitting a new majority owner.

According to Lars Carlstrom, the property sale is now not the primary lead to quickly raise money:
The property transaction that would save Saab seems to be stuck with the EIB. The hope of finding a quick solution is now very small, says the Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov spokesman Lars Carlström.
- The property transaction is no longer considered to be the main lead, he says, to DI.
The main lead to solve Saab's problem is according to DI to quickly reach a agreement with a Chinese car manufacturer.

Muller and Jonsson on their way to China?

According to TTELA, Saab is negotiating with four different Chinese companies, some of them are big companies. It is supposed to be about much larger amounts than the property sale could have brought in to Saab.

At the same time Saab is working on raising fund from elsewhere in Europe, money that wouldn't come directly from Saab enthusiast Vladimir Antonov.

TTELA also reports that the 90 days time frame the EIB set for Saab to repay the EIB loan if the property sale is completed, can be reconsidered and increased to much more than 90 days. But since the bureaucracy in the EIB is working very slowly, such a change can take several days, which is too long now that time is of essence.