A spokesman for Swedish Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson said yesterday that the carmaker would be eligible for a bridge loan from the government to help it transfer its assets to a new owner – assuming it finds a suitor. Saab says it has letters of intent from three seriously interested parties and that it expects to make an announcement soon.
“If Saab finds a new owner there may be a bit of a gap (in financing),” enterprise ministry spokesman Frank Nilsson told Reuters.
“So we are prepared to go in during that period.”
The main stipulation for the government loan, which had not been offered to Saab until now, is that it find a new, non-General Motors owner. No specific sum has been discussed, according to Nilsson, but the government did set aside about $650 million for emergency loans to the country’s flailing auto industry. Ford has also been quietly shopping around Volvo , but with no buyer news of late, it seems that Saab would be first eligible for the loan.
