Dutch luxury car maker Spyker said it had secured a US$25m (US$18.2m) convertible loan which should allow it to finalise the acquisition of Saab.
The cash injection was from an unspecified investment company owned by oil and gas exploration company Heerema Holding and has a two-year term with an interest rate of 10%, convertible into shares at EUR4 each.
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Spyker noted the loan would close the Saab transaction – subject to final European Investment Bank [EIB] finance – as US$25m has already been paid to former owner GM.
A further payment of $24m is payable to GM on 15 July this year with Spyker saying it is confident it would find funding for the second instalment. The total price for Saab is $74m.
The jigsaw arrangement of loans and guarantees needed to financially secure a viable Saab outside the tutelage of GM finally looks to be nearing completion, although Heerema added providing such convertible loans was not normally part of its business.
The EIB now formally needs to approve its loan of EUR400m to Saab following confirmation of the Swedish government’s decision to guarantee the funding and clearance from the European Commission that the deal does not distort competition.
Saab also has to “guarantee the guarantee” as a spokeswoman for the Swedish manufacturer outlined to just-auto. “We do pay costs on the loan, which is part of the calculation,” she said.
“We provide security to state in terms of collateral – we have a parts business and factories for example.”
The spokeswoman added Spyker CEO Victor Muller, who previously worked for Pieter Heerema, had “gone through a lot” to make this stage of the deal. “Nobody had to do this but [what] he has gone through to buy this company speaks a lot about the tenacity and willingness of the new owners,” she said.
Heerema president Pieter Heerema added: “Although providing convertible loans such as this one is not in the ordinary course of our business, the positive developments of the past few months involving the Saab brand…represents a unique value. This value represents much more than money alone.
“We are confident that when the company’s management gets the opportunity to implement the business plan we will see a good financial return on our investment as well.”
Formal approval by the EIB for its EUR400m is expected by the end of this month.
