Saab has said formal approval by the European Investment Bank (EIB) of a EUR400m (US$544m) loan now means everything is in place to proceed with the takeover by Dutch luxury sportscar maker Spyker.
Authorisation of the EIB loan is the final stage of an involved process that has seen Spyker secure the Swedish automaker from GM in a $74m deal. The final tranche of US$24m is payable to GM on 15 July this year.
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“We have been saying all along it [the final transaction] will happen in February, but clearly all the pieces of the jigsaw are coming together nicely,” a Saab spokesman in Sweden told just-auto.
“There is no official date to close the deal but it will be sooner rather than later. Everything from Saab’s point of view is in place – the Spyker team had a number of things they had to do. Things are looking good.”
Spyker has welcomed the EIB’s decision to approve the loan and to conclude the deal with the Swedish National Debt Office guaranteeing the finance. The European Commission gave its own green light to the Swedish guarantee last week.
“We cannot wait to close this transaction now as soon as practically possible,” said Spyker CEO Victor Muller. “We are extremely pleased with the decision by the EIB as this was a crucial component in enabling the acquisition of Saab to proceed.
“Months of hard work have paid off.”
Saab said the last example of the outgoing 9-5 model had now rolled off its Trollhattan assembly line and it was now concentrating on the next generation 9-5 to be launched in the second quarter of this year.
