Last chance for Saab as late bids are submitted

LAST-ditch efforts have been made to save Saab, hours before General Motors' deadline for either selling or shutting down the Swedish car-maker.

Dutch sports car firm Spyker said it would "definitely" be making a renewed bid by the cut-off. Chief executive Victor Muller said: "We are confident that we will put in an acceptable bid."

The Luxembourg-based investment firm Genii Capital is also understood to have made an offer.

Two deals to sell Saab fell apart in recent months – including Spyker's earlier attempt in December – but there was fresh interest from other prospective and unnamed bidders from Sweden in the final hours.

GM was planning to wind down the operation after the 10pm deadline last night as no buyer had provided proof that it could finance the sale.

Sweden's industry secretary Joran Hagglund said yesterday that bids were likely to come in but that it would be difficult for companies to prove they had the financial resources available.

"We have had contacts with several different groups since 18 December, among them three from Sweden," he said.

"I should think that at least two of them will submit bids to General Motors during Thursday. The problem is that none of them can show that they have financing in place."

He added that Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg, which retracted a bid late last year, was not one of the interested parties.

Michael Tyndall, an automotive industry analyst at Nomura International, said even though the Saab brand was of huge value, he did not see much chance of a rescue. "The idea of there being an 11th-hour white knight seems far-fetched to me," he said.

In January last year, GM, which has fully owned Saab since 2000, announced its intention to sell the Swedish brand.

From the start, the Swedish government ruled out a state bail-out, but the Chinese state-run Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings along with Koenigsegg and Spyker showed an interest.

Another American motor giant, Ford, agreed to sell the other big Swedish car brand, Volvo, to the Chinese company Geely last month.

The deal, the largest by a Chinese car firm, should be finalised shortly after Easter.