GM Agrees to Sell Saab to Sports-Car Maker Spyker

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Source: Bloomberg

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. agreed to sell its Saab unit to sports-car maker Spyker Cars NV in a deal that would save the 72-year-old Swedish brand from extinction.

The transaction, subject to a 400 million-euro ($563 million) European Investment Bank loan for Saab, will probably be completed in February, enabling Saab to halt a wind-down, GM and Spyker said today. Spyker will pay $74 million in cash and $326 million in preferred shares in the new company that would emerge from the deal, called Saab Spyker Automobiles.

Saab is among four brands, along with Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer, that Detroit-based GM is unloading to focus on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac in the U.S. after its bankruptcy exit on July 10. The sale of unprofitable Saab may save 3,500 jobs at its main factory in Trollhaettan as well as thousands of positions at Swedish parts suppliers.

“The future of Saab is still very uncertain,” said Mike Tyndall, a European automotive analyst with Nomura Securities in London. “Spyker saved them for now, but they still have to address the underlying problems of the business, which are lack of scale and lack of profit.”

Spyker shares were suspended in Amsterdam trading before the announcement. They last traded at 3.91 euros, valuing the company, led by Chief Executive Officer Victor Muller, at 84.8 million euros.

Russian Exit

Negotiations to sell Saab to Spyker collapsed last month, prompting GM to decide to shutter the money-losing brand, and Muller to revise his bid. GM would sell to Spyker on the condition that Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov, the chairman and biggest investor in the Zeewolde, Netherlands-based sports-car maker, exit the company, a person familiar with the talks has said.

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