Today the Saab bankruptcy administrators Hans Bergqvist and Anne-Marie Pouteaux held a press conference. Swedish Radio P4 Väst has done a summary of what was said. Below is a translation.
13:27 - Everything that can be pawned at Saab, has been pawned, strictly speaking, says Bergqvist.
- It affects our jobs.
13:20 - GM has made a clear statement, but there are probably always openings for negotiations in the commercial context, says Bergqvist.
- We have not put off discussions with interested parties, despite GM's statement, we remain intent on selling the whole business.
- There are parties who are interested in Saab, like the brand and the Saab cars.
13:17 According to the administrators, they have received over 500 bids for the Saab Museum cars.
- We have received an incredible number of offers, mainly on parts [of the collection], but even on individual cars. But also a number of bids on the whole [collection]. During the next week we will evaluate the bids. We do not comment on who has made bids. We will disclose information when we are finished.
Those who bid on the whole, do they want to keep the museum open?
- I do not know, we do not have that kind of knowledge.
How will you assess the bids?
- We just calculate what will bring in the most money. It is sad that we are not an authority responsible to preserve culture. It is not our task to preserve the museum, although it would be nice if it were so, we are to get as much money as possible.
13:16 - We are in dialogue with interested parties. We hope it can crystallize in the next two weeks how serious these are. During that time, we evaluate what interest there still is for certain parts of Saab.
13:15 - The estate inventory has not been completed, which is not surprising since this is an enormous task. In the legal sense, we are forced to submit inventory a week before the debtor are to pledge that the information on the inventory is correct.
- What the assets are worth is what the market is willing to pay, says Hans Bergqvist.
13:13 - Now we feel that we are starting to get a handle on the work.
- There have been ongoing discussions with a great number of interested parties. Right from day one. There are some which are interested to bid for the entire operation, some on parts of the business.
13:12 - Our job is to take care of the assets and turn it into money that can be left to the creditors.
- It is no easy task (to find someone to take over Saab) due to many different conditions. Saab is like a patient who for a long time has bled to death. The brutal verdict is that the patient is dead, but the bleeding has not stopped. Such a large operation dies not on its own. It takes time and costs to shut down this kind of business.
13:09 - We've been struggling with a severe liquidity crisis, and at the same time we have had in mind that it is extremely important to try to keep the values in the whole of Saab so that we can determine whether there is an opportunity for a continuation of the business. But we are force to assess if there are things that we can sell to fund the work, but that should not affect the big picture too much. It is a work in progress all the time.
13:08 - Saab Automobile is a bit of an icon and has a great historical value. We have seen an unusual loyalty among employees and suppliers, says the bankruptcy administrators and continue:
13:05 - We decided lay low in our flow of information in the beginning. First, to get information and then to approach GM with something we thought was realistic.,
- Now it has changed after GM's statement. They came out first. We must of course take this into consideration in our further handling.
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.
