Bernie Ecclestone and Genii Capital withdraw from the battle to buy Saab
Genii Capital – together with Bernie Ecclestone – have withdrawn from the battle to buy Saab.
Another day, another Saab Saga story.
Yesterday was all about the ‘Have they – Haven’t they’ reached a deal between GM and Spyker. Bloomberg had reported earlier in the day that a deal was done and even came up with figures ($500 million). But Spyker denied the claim and GM said in a press conference yesterday afternoon that there was nothing to report on Saab.
Today we had news that production of the Saab 9-4X has started, which is perhaps a sign that GM are not completely intent on shutting Saab down – yet. But in yet another twist we’re hearing that Genii Capital and Bernie Ecclestone have withdrawn their bid to buy Saab. Which means it’s going to be Spyker to buy Saab or nothing. Probably.
Genii have said that, having come to the table just three days before GM’s original bid deadline, they had entered in to a “period of intensive study and evaluation” but had concluded that the GM’s decision to start winding down Saab was inconsistent with putting together a solid business platform to go forward. Which is hard to argue with, and brings in to question the decision by GM to start winding Saab down. As we said a few weeks ago, do GM actually want to sell Saab?
That said – and as we said earlier today – the latest rumour is that a deal with Spyker will be announced later today.
Yeah, right.
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