Saab on Track to Sale Property

With the production of vehicles still hindered by the debt Saab has to its suppliers, the car maker is rushing to save what it can and is going through tremendous pain to convince both Sweden and the European Investment Bank (EIB) that the sale of real estate property to the financial institution owned by Russian investor Vladimir Antonov is a good thing.

Luckily for Saab, a piece of good news transpired on Thursday from the Swedish National Debt Office (NDO), who decided to release the pledge on the shares of Saab Automobile Property. Until now, Saab was unable to sell its properties, including the manufacturing site in Trollhattan, because it was used as collateral in the loan Saab received from the EUR400 million loan from the EIB.

The release of the pledge means that Saab pretty much met the requirements announced by the NDO in the last day of the past week. Even so, the situation is still uncertain, as the EIB has now become the next hurdle.

In order to go ahead with the sale and hence fulfill Antonov’s desire of becoming a Saab financier (Antonov was kicked out of the Spyker-Saab deal after GM requested so last year), the EIB must give its green light as well.

What more important, having received the NDO's approval to sell the property, Saab lost a big portion of the EIB loan. Since the loan is no longer backed by collateral as important as the real estate properties, Saab will only be able to use EUR280 million from the initial loan.