Saab Automobile needs to clarify its control structure before a solution to the company’s liquidity problem can be found, Swedish finance minister Anders Borg has said in a television interview.
Quoted by Dow Jones speaking on Swedish television, Borg said many elements of the financial solution presented by the company were not clear and more detail was needed on items such as the sale and leaseback of the automaker’s property, being discussed by Russian financier Vladimir Antonov’s Convers Group and Saab’s Dutch owner, Spyker Cars.
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“It’s a difficult situation and there’s a big responsibility on those who own Saab to make sure we get clarity,” Anders Borg said. “This is not going to be resolved by taxpayers lower their requirements,” he added.
Swedish taxpayers have taken a limited risk, so far, as Saab’s loans have been supported by a state-backed guarantee from the European Investment Bank (EIB), he said.
“We have strong collateral,” he said, noting however that the EIB loan is for long-term investments and not to resolve an acute liquidity situation.
Borg also said Saab is selling few cars and therefore it has a “very, very strained liquidity situation.”
