Saab’s future remains up in the air so far on Thursday with GM talking of starting factory closures while there are reports of new or renewed bids.
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Swedish business daily Dagens Industri reported today that two anonymous Swedish groups were likely to enter last-minute bids proposing management buy-outs of Saab and quoted Joran Hagglund, Sweden’s state secretary for industry, as saying the bids were likely to beat today’s deadline, though neither had been able to show the financial backing necessary for a purchase.
“We have had contacts with several different groups since the 18th of December, among them three from Sweden,” Hagglund told the paper, according to Reuters. “I should think that at least two of them will submit bids to General Motors during Thursday.”
“The problem is that none of them can show that they have financing in place,” he said, adding that Koenigsegg, which retracted its bid for Saab late last year, was not one of the groups.
One report said GM had set 1600GMT today as its latest deadline for the sale of Saab while chief executive, Ed Whitacre, said on Wednesday he was not optimistic of a sale and GM would therefore most likely proceed with the orderly wind-down of the Swedish unit once the deadline was past.
Dutch luxury car maker Spyker Cars had said on Monday it was working on a final offer for Saab assets and would file its bid by the deadline while Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday quoted chief executive officer Victor Muller as saying:”We will make an offer today.”
AFP said GM’s deadline was 2200 GMT today for final offers.
Muller reportedly had “no idea” whether Spyker was the only bidder.
Saab could not be reached immediately for comment.
