Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov has withdrawn his proposal to buy Saab property although he remains poised to invest in the automaker through other means.
Antonov has been consistently frustrated by the ratification process needed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and has finally decided to pull out of the property deal.
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“Before he [Antonov] was involved with the property sale, but not now,” Antonov’s holding company director Lars Carlstrom told just-auto from Sweden.”The EIB has not come back to us – we have decided to pull out in terms of the property investment. But we are still interested in becoming an investor.
“There have been so many complications in terms of the EIB and Swedish government in the approval process, so it seems easier for Saab to sell the property to an external investor.”
Carlstrom estimated the valuation of Saab property to be SEK1bn (US$1.4bn) with liquidation of around EUR600m.
A Saab spokeswoman declined to elaborate on Antonov’s position, but insisted the property sale was still in progress.
“Spyker put out a short statement that discussions are still ongoing,” she told just-auto from Sweden. “As soon as we can communicate more about that, we will.”
Saab’s Trollhättan factory in Western Sweden continues to remain at a standstill today after supplier issues forced a halt last week.
