Saab China – Deal Dead

Saab has announced overnight that the deal with Youngman And Pang Da in China is terminated.

Did we expect anything different? Saab has announced that the deal for Chinese companies Youngman and Pang Da to take a €245 million stake in Saab has been terminated.

Saab say that they have terminated the agreement because Pang Da and Youngman have failed to confirm their commitment to the Subscription Agreement on the agreed terms, and the money the Chinese (according to Saab) were to pay by this weekend has not been received.

Saab again confirms that they have received an offer from the Chinese to purchase 100 per cent of Saab (they give no figure – we’ve heard €700 million, which seems a lot) but that the offer is unacceptable to Saab.

The next stage in this saga is the hearing of an application by Saab’s court protection administrator to have Saab’s protection removed, which seems likely.

The only ray of light for Saab is the ‘deal’ with North Street Capital to loan Saab $60 million and take $10 million in shares. Although that is such a drop in the ocean of Saab’s cash hole it probably won’t be enough to persuade Swedish courts Saab can continue to reorganise.

And as we reported over the weekend, the Saab / North Street Capital deal looks very odd.