Currently reading: Spyker/Saab deal 'imminent'

Spyker shares suspended, pending "announcement this afternoon"

Dutch financial authorities have announced that trading in Spyker shares has been suspended, prompting speculation that a deal to purchase Saab is about to be announced.

This is a common move before a company announcement during trading hours.

Swedish news channels are quoting Spyker boss Victor Muller as saying, "I can't comment now, but there will definitely be an announcement later today."

Earlier today Spyker's chief executive admitted talks to buy Saab "could go either way".

Muller is holding talks with GM in Sweden at the moment, and told the Reuters news agency, "Negotiations are ongoing and the spirit is positive, but we are very, very tired.

"It is such a complicated transaction. It's not for no reason it has taken so long. It is extremely technical. It can go either way, but you can rest assured we are doing everything to close the deal."

Reports suggest Spyker will give GM $75 million (£47m) for Saab, while GM will keep another $100m (£62m) in current Saab liquidity, and $325m (£210m) in preferred shares from the new, Spyker-owned Saab company.

Spyker is now the sole bidder after investment company Genii Capital, backed by Formula One mogul Bernie Ecclestone, withdrew its offer on Monday.

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jackjflash 26 January 2010

Re: Spyker: 'Saab talks in balance'

theonlydt wrote:
Hopefully there's enough expertise left at SAAB after GM got rid of most of their good people for not agreeing with GM's direction.

I would hope Spyker would bring in their own engineering talent/expertise; after all isn’t that what most of the angst on this forum is about, GM engineers screwing up SAAB. No, if SAAB is sold to Spyker the responsibility to design/develop new product falls squarely on their shoulders, you can only use GM as a punching bag/villain until the business changes hand. I’m curious to see how many forum members march down to SAAB to lay down a deposit if the sale goes through.

theonlydt 26 January 2010

Re: Spyker: 'Saab talks in balance'

The question is can Spyker afford SAAB. I'm actually surprised GM are wanting money for SAAB, unlike the BMW and Rover thing. The £50m they want is basically nothing - the cost of running SAAB for several years until it is a profitable car company will cost Spyker a fortune, they'd better be in it for the long haul and be getting a decent interest rate on their loan. Being able to honour warranties, develop new cars and bring existing cars in to full-scale production is a huge ask of any car company - and Spyker doesn't really have the experience in this area of mass production. Hopefully there's enough expertise left at SAAB after GM got rid of most of their good people for not agreeing with GM's direction.