Saab Fate Revealed Soon?
By Michelle Krebs January 8, 2010General Motors confirmed Friday morning that it is moving ahead with the wind down of its 
Saab division, despite 11th-hour bids from interested buyers.
GM said it had selected AlixPartners "to supervise the orderly wind down of Saab, and has requested approval of the selection by the appropriate authority in Sweden." AlixPartners is the same company GM has employed to wind down its other discontinued divisions, Pontiac and Saturn, and to rid the old GM of unwanted assets.
GM also confirmed that it has received several proposals for Saab and is continuing to evaluate these proposals.
Just before GM's deadline Thursday night to accept bids for the Swedish brand, Formula 1 mogul and billionaire investor Bernie Ecclestone with Genii Capital, a Luxembourg-based private equity fund, reportedly tendered such a bid.
At the same time, Dutch sports carmaker, Spyker, which has been in negotiations with Saab since November, is said to have made a new offer on Thursday night as well.
On Wednesday, GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre said he doubted Saab would be saved as no buyer has shown up with cash to buy the ailing brand, so GM was continuing with its wind-down process. He said factories would soon be closed. Saab factories in Sweden employ 3,400 workers.
In addition, some European press reports claim two other Swedish-led consortiums backed by Saab management were scrambling to assemble bids on Thursday. Speculation also had other bidders in the running, including Merbanco Inc., a Wyoming-based group of investors, and a group of Swedish businessmen, including the former head of German truckmaker MAN Hakan Samuelsson.
Though Spyker has been considered the most serious contender, its offer remains doubtful. The tiny carmaker sold a mere 43 cars in 2008 and lost $11.3 million.
In a statement, Genii said it was interested in a majority stake in the brand, though it gave no financial details. "The group believes that Saab has a tremendous brand value in a number of key markets" and believes in the potential of Saab as the auto industry moves into greener and safer technology, hallmarks of the brand.
Last month, Genii agreed to buy a majority stake in Renault's Formula One racing team. Ecclestone's role in the Saab deal is unclear, according to the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper. Forbes magazine estimates his family's worth at $3.7 billion.
Meantime, Joran Hagglund, Sweden's industry secretary, told Dagens Industri newspaper that neither Spyker nor Genii/Ecclestone had secured firm financing.
While negotiations go on inside GM's headquarters in downtown Detroit's Renaissance Center, Saab enthusiasts held a rally outside, parking their cars around the block and waving "Save Saab" signs.
GM's Friday morning statement said the wind down process would take several months, and "will ensure that employees, dealers and suppliers are adequately protected." -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
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Speculation that GM might sell Saab has been reported on for nearly a year, and the original Koenigsegg deal was first brought to light back in June '09
Including Koenigsegg, GM has turned down proposals from at least two vetted bidders and now there is this SaabManiia going on to panic-buy a company that has lost money consistently.
General Motors will never, under any circumstances, sell Saab, Opel, Saturn, Hummer, or Pontiac. The potential for another entity to not only compete with the brands GM has kept, but do better using their former tooling and factories, under someone else's management is too great for the collective ego still permeating GM.
General Motors could conceivably sell or license the trademarks to a non competitive concern, (Saab Beer, Hummer Jeans, Pontiac Laundry Soap, etc). But we will never see a 2011 Saab automobile. Let's move on.
GM is right by not selling Saab. We hear about all those fly by night $1 million 3 cars a year companies comming out of the woodwork to buy Saab, but lets face it, those companies will sell technical data to any one that come with the right money. GM technology (not that it is the top of the line) cost money to develop, and giving it away to shady at best little 40 employees companies is wrong and mybe will result in disapointment to Saab employees.
The Swedish gov. has to step in and buy Saab out right from GM otherwise it should go out of business. If the Swedes dont care why should GM.
As Whitacre said "no buyer has shown up with cash".
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