Spyker shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the takeover plan of Saab today (12 February) aiming to make the company profitable by 2012 although final closure of the deal still hinges on formal transfer of the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) EUR400m (US$543m) loan.
Of the 8.4m shares represented in Amsterdam today, only a fraction (1,174) abstained, leading to formal approval of the deal, from an investor standpoint at least.
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Spyker CEO Victor Muller paraded backing from analysts within KPMG and Booz Allen, as well as due diligence from the EIB and the Swedish government as loan guarantors.
Further details to emerge from today’s meeting include a possible dual listing in Stockholm and London and confirmation of earlier announced plans to produce the 9-3, 9-5 and 9-4X models, as well as evaluate a smaller 9-1 model although this would require additional funding.
Spyker is also in talks with military aircraft producer Saab AB to see how the future car company can retain its brand identity.
“There is Saab AB which is the maker of the fighter jets Gripen and Viggen [and] to avoid confusion, we are currently in discussion with them to see how we could restructure that,” said Muller, who also revealed he was seeking new supervisory board members.
“We will be looking for true heavyweights from the car industry to help us build up this brand to be profitable by 2012,” he said.
Muller pulled no punches about where he sees the new Saab in the market. “We want to reposition Saab against brands such as Audi and BMW and close the gap in its premium position,” he said.
To that end, Saab Cars CEO Jan Ake Jonsson envisages ramping up production at Saab’s Trollhattan plant to pre-crisis levels of some 120,000 in two years in a “hiring not firing” operation.
“When we need to ramp up to the volumes in the business plan, we then will need more manufacturing staff not less,” he said. “As we take over responsibility from GM, we will have to add white collar staff.”
Jonsson also emphasised the need to move away from GM-led dealerships to a more independent basis. “We have to transition away from that structure and into one where we either run the market ourselves or appoint independent distributors,” he said.
The new company will target private buyers more aggressively through an upgraded marketing strategy. “We have to increase our market share of private consumers and reduce reliance on fleet buyers,” noted Jonsson. “Marketing activities and product specifications will shift to the private sector [while] dealers will increase their efforts towards the private buyer.”
And Muller outlined why Spyker was mulling a new listing as there was clearly no direct connection with the Dutch market any more that justified remaining. “We will have 99.5% of our business in Sweden,” he said also highlighting this week’s move of Spyker production to the UK, as well as anticiapting plans to spend EUR30m on new product development this year at Saab rather than with third parties.
“Having a listing in London is a much better way of getting close to investors than staying in Amsterdam,” he added. “What we will have in Holland is operations such as financial services, administration and aftersales.
“Whether that will last is a matter of judgement over time. If that does not live up to expectations, we will shut the Netherlands down.”
Muller also animatedly batted away suggestions that the Dutch outfit was only interested in Saab to secure EIB funding, noting the forensic scrutiny to which Spyker would now be subject should it succeed with the loan.
“The loan is ring-fenced,” he said. “The loan is earmarked down to the last euro – it is not like the EIB dumps EUR400m into your account. Every three months an investigator comes down to Saab to see whether the money is spent properly. There is no way in hell Saab could spend that money outside Saab.”
As soon as the new Saab Spyker Automobiles receives closure approval, it would shift material into the plant to start production. “It is not a matter of getting 75% of the material, we need 100% to build a car,” said Jonsson.
But the Spyker CEO was at pains to point out that despite the name, both brands would remain separate – including at the upcoming Geneva motor show. “Saabs are Saabs and Spykers are Spykers,” he said.
