Saab gets a small payment from Youngman
Yesterday the Pangda Chairman said the Saab deal was no longer viable. Today, Saab confirms it has received the first payment from China’s Youngman
What on earth are we going to do once the Saab Saga is resolved? The machinations and misunderstandings surrounding Victor Muller’s increasingly desperate quest to keep Saab alive has probably provided more stories than almost anything else this year.
Yesterday’s Saab episode surrounded Pangda Chairman Pang Qinghua stating that the Saab deal was no longer valid since Saab went in to court protection in Sweden, raising the prospect of one of Saab’s creditors pushing the bankruptcy button rather swiftly.
Just after we published that story, Saab sent us an email saying that the comments by Pang Qinghua were a ‘Misunderstanding’ and that the deal was on track. We don’t know whether Saab were implying Pang Qinghua didn’t make the comments or that they’d been mis-translated, but whatever the misunderstanding was it was not the case that the China deal was off. Apparently.
To try and keep the lid on this particular can of worms, the other party to the China deal with Saab – Youngman – has paid Saab the first chunk of the bridging loan agreed between Saab, Pangda and Youngman to keep Saab afloat until the Chinese government approves the Pangda/Youngman takeover of Saab.
However, it would seem that the part payment Saab has received from Youngman – with further payments said to be set to arrive this week and more by 22nd October – amounts to only around €11 million.
What such a small amount will achieve for Saab we’re not sure, but the affirmation that the rest of the bridging loan will arrive in the next 10 days – and the assertion that the Chinese government will approve the Youngman/Pangda deal ‘during the next few weeks’ – should buy Victor Muller and Saab a bit more time.
And the beat goes on.
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