Cash-strapped Saab finds a partner

Saab Automobile has agreed a strategic partnership with a Chinese company called Hawtai Motor, in the last try to keep the insolvent Swedish carmaker afloat.

Saab has been with economic problems for a few years now, but for the last three weeks things got worse, they had to stop their production chain because some of the suppliers had stopped delivering them the materials needed. It seems that suppliers did that because of unpaid bills. In order to try to solve this big problem, liquidity, Saab has been negotiating with a lot of potential Chinese partners.

Finally, on Monday 2^nd of May, the Swedish firm came to an agreement with Hawtai. No details have been given, they will be announced at the signing ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday.

Saab was also rescued last year by a Dutch firm, Spyker Cars, which bought it from General Motors, who was going to close this business. But Spyker Cars also failed to revive Saab’s success.

This agreement is another example of how China is trying to enter the worldwide automobile market by acquiring directly well-known companies, like a year ago; when a small company called Geely took over Volvo.

 Carles

Sources : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ce9394a0-702f-11e0-bea7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1LD16jGDa

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