Saab’s former owner General Motors Co. may block a deal by two Chinese investors to take over the Swedish carmaker, if the transaction hurts its existing tie-ups in China or its competitive position in other markets. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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“It doesn’t make sense for us to support any change that might adversely affect us. We use global architectures and those global architectures are used in a number of products we make at SGM (Shanghai GM),” Kevin Wale, president and managing director for GM’s China operation, told Reuters on Monday in a telephone interview.
Wale reiterated comments made by a GM spokesman on Friday, that the U.S. carmaker might block the deal with Saab, in which it still holds some preferred shares and is a major supplier of components.
The spokesman said that it would be difficult to support a sale of Saab if the transaction hurt the automaker’s existing tie-ups in China or its competitive position in other global markets.
Last month China’s Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. struck a deal to buy Saab from its current Dutch owner, Swedish Automobile for 100 million euros, in what amounts to a rescue plan for the Swedish brand.
But the deal, valid through Nov 15, requires the approval of GM, the Chinese government, the European Investment Bank, and the Swedish government.
Saab has moved from crisis to crisis in the past year and has not produced a car in months. The company was given court protection from creditors in Sweden in September. It was the second time Saab received protection from creditors in two years.
If Pang Da and Youngman complete the deal to purchase Saab, it would mark the second time that a struggling Swedish auto brand, once controlled by Detroit automakers, has been acquired by a Chinese company.
In August 2010, Geely bought Volvo from Ford Motor Co.
Swedish Automobile, then called Spyker, rescued Saab from closure by GM in early 2010.
