Sweden urges Saab decision

Sweden wants a final decision from General Motors on what it plans to do with Saab this week.

Joran Hagglund, state secretary at Sweden's Enterprise Ministry, told Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet newspaper that GM must act quickly to complete a deal with one of the interested parties or risk losing out on funding to secure Saab’s future.

“They must at least have chosen one of the interested parties this week, otherwise it will be tough to complete a deal,” he said.

“Partly, GM has a lot of contracts to negotiate and partly the European Investment Bank and the [Swedish] debt office need to undertake a detailed economic analysis of a buyer's financial strength.”

There are several parties reported to be interested in buying Saab, with Chinese manufacturer BAIC favourite to land the deal. GM is prepared to axe the Saab brand completely if not buyer is found by the end of the year.

A GM spokesman said it would continue to support Saab financially until a deal was completed, provided a buyer could be lined up by the end of the year.

“Yes, we will continue to run Saab during that period,” he said. “But I think that a decision about Saab is going to come very soon.”

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