One of the main owners of Sweden's Koenigsegg Automotive AB has confirmed that the luxury sports car maker is among the final bidders for General Motor Corp's Saab unit. Baard Eker, who did not return phonecalls seeking comment Saturday, told Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet late Friday that although a final deal to buy the Trollhattan, Sweden-based GM subsidiary is not yet in place, his company would have the financial backing to pull the acquisition off.
"There have been many processes going on at the same time to get the buy together," he said, adding hurdles could still pop up before anything is finalised. "We think it is possible and we have several good solutions to bring with us to Saab," he said. "But I don't want to comment on financial sums or who it is we have with us." On Thursday, Swedish broadcaster SVT cited unnamed sources saying Koenigsegg, along with Norwegian investors, had signed a declaration of intent to buy Saab.
Neither Saab nor Koenigsegg has confirmed the report that suggests it is already a done deal. On Friday, Saab issued a statement saying "there has been no official announcement relating to any potential investors but rest assured our negotiations are on track."
Saab went into creditor protection February 20 in an effort by GM to spin off or sell the unit. Saab confirmed last month that three bidders remained in the sales process. The three bidders reportedly in the lead to buy it were Koenigsegg; The Renco Group Inc, a private equity firm; and Merbanco Inc, a Wyoming-based group of investors. Eker, who sits on Koenigsegg's board and whose shareholding in the firm is estimated at around 49 percent by market watchers, added that "many investors" have been interested in joining up in the deal that Saab has described as being "just around the corner." "We've had good wind in the sails since we started, but we might be at a new level soon," he said.
According to Eker, Koenigsegg _ which is headquartered at a former air force base near Angelholm in southern Sweden _ aims to freshen up the work culture and the technology at Saab. Koenigsegg was founded by Christian von Koenigsegg, a Swedish sports car fanatic and entrepreneur, in 1994. The company, which has 45 full time staff produces around a dozen customised cars a year, including models like the CCR, the CCX and the ethanol-fuelled CCXR. The company doesn't advertise prices for its cars, but they are believed to range between 8 million-18 million kronor ($1 million-$2.3 million).
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