Maybe it’s a bureaucrat’s revenge but it does seem a tad picky from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to have to pore over the Swedish National Debt Office’s (SNDO) approval of Saab’s property and loan-tweaking request.
I’m no expert, but after having had many conversations with the perfectly nice people at the SNDO in Stockholm, I’d guess this is one organisation that is not exactly throwing cash about.
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It’s a hard-headed outfit – “hard-nosed” was how European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) CEO Lars Holmqvist described it to just-auto from Brussels this week – so it seems a little over-keen the EIB should be making Saab employees sweat during the long Easter weekend.
It’s fair to say from several calls to the august headquarters of the EIB in Luxembourg, that I have managed to get precisely no-where in understanding any timetable for a Saab decision.
All the bankers would do was acknowledge the SNDO position, but they politely declined to comment on the “business relationship” with Saab or the EIB procedures.
Rules are rules but there are real jobs for real people at stake here – not just the near-4,000 at Trollhattan of course but trickling down all through Saab’s 800 or so suppliers.
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By GlobalDataSwedish observers couldn’t hide their frustration, with one describing the EIB process as “unbelievably slow, bureaucracy without comparison.”
At least Saab has inched forward with the Debt Office. The creative property deal has been approved, although no numbers have been released, but what’s with the cat and mouse language regarding the identity of the buyer?
Here’s what the SNDO said today: “The transaction will secure reasonable consideration for Saab, integrity issues regarding the buyer have been adequately addressed, and the payment to Saab will be made from a bank licensed within the European Union. “
Calls to Saab to check if those mysterious “integrity issues” were a reference to potential investor Vladimir Antonov were firmly batted back.
Antonov’s business colleague Lars Carlstrom made a spirited defence of the Russian to just-auto this week, but if it is him the SNDO means in its despatch, why not say so?
There’s more hope this Easter weekend for Saab employees than there was this time last week. If only the EIB would grind into action more quickly than its glacial movements so far.
