General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre says a deal to save Saab from extinction is unlikely to be completed, despite reports claiming two unknown Swedish groups have made 11th-hour bids to save it.
Whitacre said no party had come forward with the necessary funding to buy and restructure Saab. He also revealed that GM had done “everything humanly possible” to sell Saab.
“It's real easy,” he told Reuters. “Just show up with the money and you can have it [Saab], but nobody's showing up with the money. I think we've done everything humanly possible.”
Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker was previously the only firm known to have submitted a bid for Saab ahead of today’s 4pm deadline, but Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri said two new parties were likely to submit bids before the time expires.
Sweden's state secretary for industry, Joran Hagglund, told the paper that three parties had expressed an interest in Saab and two were likely to follow this up with bids.
“We have had contacts with several different groups since the 18 December, among them three from Sweden," said Hagglund. "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.”
Hagglund also revealed that Koenigsegg, which had originally bid for Saab before the deal collapsed, had not renewed its interest. The Swedish government is set to meet GM bosses next Tuesday to discuss Saab's future.
Whitacre said if no suitable bid was received before the deadline, an orderly closure of Saab would begin.
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