Saab Meltdown gets closer
It’s reported that Saab has increased the pay of Board members as Sweden’s Debt Office begins proceedings against Saab.
It never rains, but it pours. And for Saab and Victor Muller it has been a year or more of almost unbroken storms, punctuated with just the odd ray of financial sunshine as Victor Muller combs the planet for investors to stake a claim in his chocolate teapot company.
There has been no production at Saab of any consequence since April; many suppliers still remain unpaid despite substantial injections of cash from Chinese buyers; wages have not been paid and now, just to rub salt in the wound, it’s been revealed that board members received pay rises of up to 650 per cent in 2010. Great PR.
Saab argues that the pay increases were necessary to retain the right people for a massively bigger enterprise than Spyker. But that’s clearly a ridiculous statement when Saab’s only reason to exist seems to be for Victor Muller to launch endless charm offensives to raise cash. What are the Board members doing? They’re certainly not ‘managing’ Saab in any meaningful sense.
Now, as approbation for the efforts to raise the funding needed for Saab’s survival is finally turning to disapprobation, the Swedish Debt Office is moving in to investigate and recover $620k owed to Kongsberg Automotive and the Infotiv Consulting Group.
It’s a small sum, $620k, but it’s possibly the tipping point for Saab. If the money is not paid before the investigation by the Swedish Debt Office is complete the likely outcome is Saab being declared bankrupt.
It is estimated it will take between one and three months for the SDE to complete its task. Which is almost exactly the time-frame Pand Da and Youngman expect to elapse before they get Chinese Government approval for their investment in Saab. If we were Pang Da and Youngman I think we’d be inclined to pick up the pieces after bankruptcy instead of investing in a sick Saab.
Frankly, it’s time this sorry saga came to an end.
Source: The Truth About Cars & Others
Paul Phillips says
So the SAAB board are getting their money before anyone else?
“Phoenix Four” anyone?
Presumably as with MG Rover, the Chinese will wait for the inevitable fire sale and pick up SAAB for very little. Should that happen, at least the company will have a future. At the moment it’s just one bit of bad news after another.
PhilipJH says
It’s got to be time to draw a line under this mess. Surely the noble thing for Muller and his team to do would be to let the Chinese take over – at any cost – in the hope Saab can be another Volvo, and save the livelihoods of 4000 workers in the process.
That, surely, should now be the main focus.