Saab saved from liquidation

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Good news has been in short supply at General Motors the past year.  Petty cash in the corporate coffers has been even rarer.  But news that G.M. has sold its Saab brand to Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker Car N.V. looks to bring a bit of both to the American auto giant.

General Motors Co. agreed to sell its Saab unit to Dutch sports-car maker Spyker Cars NV in a deal that would save the 72-year-old Swedish brand that’s being wound down.

Spyker agreed to pay $74 million in cash and $326 million in preferred shares in the company that would emerge from the deal, according to the Dutch company. The transaction, subject to Sweden agreeing to guarantee a 400 million-euro ($563 million) European Investment Bank loan for Saab, is expected to close in February and Saab will exit an orderly wind-down process in line with the timetable.

Saab is among four brands, along with Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer, that Detroit-based GM is unloading to focus on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac in the U.S. after its bankruptcy exit on July 10. A sale of Saab, which GM is in the process of winding down, may save many of the 3,500 jobs at Saab’s main factory in Trollhaettan in southwestern Sweden.

(Via Bloomberg, GM Agress to Sell Saab Brand to Dutch Luxury-Car Maker Spyker)