It's not over?
Trading in shares of Spyker stock was stopped in Amsterdam, Netherlands, this afternoon as speculators continued to bid up the price of the tiny sports car maker for the ultra rich. Yesterday, Spyker shares increased by more than 75% on rumors that it was close to buying Saab from General Motors.
Several thousand jobs are dependent on the outcome, including 3400 Saab employees, not counting 1100 dealers, numerous suppliers and their employees.
Saab’s annual global sales of fewer than 90,000 vehicles make it an unlikely survivor in the Global car wars. Previously General Motors Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre has expressed cynicism about what he characterized as a “show me the money” stance toward potential Saab suitors.
Saab itself filed for reorganization under Swedish Law on 20 February 2009, after GM said no more funding would be provided for the loss-making operation. As part of the plan, Saab said its design, engineering and manufacturing would be consolidated in Sweden.
General Motors had signed a memorandum of understanding last August to sell Saab Automobile AB to Koenigsegg, but without all of the needed financing in place. The Swedish government then refused to lend money to Koenigsegg.
At the time, Koenigsegg said it needed another $425 million to make the proposed business plan work. The plan developed by Koenigsegg was never revealed, but it was critical for the deal to move forward.
Koenigsegg Group withdrew in November from the bidding process. GM then entered into intense discussions Spyker Cars about its interest in acquiring Saab.
In December, GM said that the intended sale of Saab Automobile AB would not proceed, and an “orderly wind-down of Saab operations” would commence.
John Smith, GM vice president of corporate planning, did not provide details of the issues at that time, but he did say that there were problems with the deal from the perspective of both parties, and that they were “irresolvable,” so there was no sense in proceeding.
Issues surrounding the sale of Saab were among the factors that led to the “resignation” of CEO Fritz Henderson, whose job has now been taken by Ed Whitacre.