Is the Swedish government preparing to bail out Saab and yet ignore Volvo? That what it’s looking like. Automotive News reports that the government said that it will be asking the European Commission to determine whether it is all right to give loan guarantees to Saab. Apparently the Swedish government is arranging for Saab to get 400 million euros ($585 million) of guarantees for loans from the European Investment Bank.
Pundits say that this request seems to show that the Swedish government favors Koenigsegg Group’s acquisition of Saab from General Motors. The state guarantees for loans is supposed to be a key part of financing the deal.
Koenigsegg Group is said to be supported by U.S. and Norwegian investors and negotiated a preliminary deal with GM earlier this year. However, there is some fear that Koenigsegg Group does not have the money to both buy and run Saab. Koenigsegg said that it has targeted the end of October as the date to finalize the deal. Meanwhile, it is hoped that a decision on the loan could be made on October 21 or 22.
This doesn’t make a lot of sense, unless there’s something going on behind-the-scenes with Volvo, since it has a much stronger product lineup and pipeline than Saab. Something tells me there’s more to this story than meets the eye.