Spyker-owned Saab Automobile filed an application overnight with the Swedish debt office to allow Hawtai of China to take a stake in the struggling carmaker, a debt official said on Friday.
As part of its rescue plan, Spyker Cars announced earlier this week that privately owned Hawtai would invest EUR150m (US$210m) in Saab, taking a 29.9% stake and paving the way for Saabs to be made in China.
Go deeper with GlobalData
“The application came in overnight,” Daniel Barr, Debt Office head of bank support and project leader for Saab, told Reuters when asked whether a change in ownership application had been filed.
Spyker Cars needs approval from the Swedish Debt Office and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to go ahead with any change in ownership in the firm, according to the terms of an outstanding loan it has with the EIB.
Hawtai also needs Chinese government approval, Reuters noted.
The Hawtai deal is one of several pulled together to stave off Saab’s collapse, including share issues, the sale of Spyker’s sportscar operations and to sell and lease back Saab’s real estate.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataSpyker CEO Victor Muller said on Tuesday Hawtai would pay the first installment of its investment within 10 days. Saab has said production could restart within one week if it can reach an agreement with suppliers.
The Chinese alliance comes only a year after the tiny Dutch supercar maker bailed out the General Motors’ unit.
Spyker has struggled to turn Saab around, producing only 31,700 cars last year. It set a sales target of 80,000 vehicles for 2011, but last week said it would fail to meet that.
Waters were further muddied on Friday as the automaker described as “unfortunate” a leaked document from the Swedish embassy in Beijing that appears to contain “subjective” views on the proposed Hawtai investment.
A reliable source familiar with the matter in Beijing confirmed to just-auto that the report commented on what Hawtai has been doing “and what they have not been doing” and, despite the content not being official, some detail leaked out.
The source added ambassador Lars Freden had said it was the job of the embassy to report to the ministry “what we know and what we don’t know” although it was apparently never an intention to comment on business deals.
The source conceded the report had perhaps been interpreted negatively although insisted Freden had not made any negative comments “as such” on Hawtai’s activities.
