Swedish car maker Saab Automobile – abandoned by General Motors is today taking steps to stave off bankruptcy.
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Its board is meeting and was planning to request that an administrator be appointed by a court to restructure the cash-strapped unit and determine if any parts of it can survive independently of its US parent company, Swedish public radio reported, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
But Saab chief executive Jan-Aake Jonsson refused to confirm the information however.
“I don’t want to speculate on the different alternatives that Saab has when it comes to running our operations going forward,” he told the radio.
GM on Tuesday night warned in its restructuring plan submitted to the US government the unit could file for bankruptcy protection “as early as this month” unless it received help from the Swedish government, which in turn has flatly refused to step in and rescue the automaker.
Observers has said on Wednesday the company’s only chance of surviving in its current form was to find a buyer – a difficult feat in today’s global economic climate, AFP noted.
Restructuring could allow parts of Saab to survive and could enable suppliers, who would lose all the money owed them by the company if it filed for bankruptcy, to get some money back by agreeing to accept only partial repayment for their goods and services.
Saab employs about 4,100 people in Sweden, 3,700 of whom work at its hub in the southwestern town of Trollhaettan. Including suppliers, some 15,000 jobs in Sweden are believed to be at risk if the unit disappears, AFP said.
