Dutch sports car group Spyker favoured to buy Saab (2nd Roundup)

Dec 16, 2009, 0:43 GMT

Stockholm - Spyker Cars of the Netherlands emerged Tuesday as the favourite to buy Saab, the troubled Swedish subsidiary of US giant General Motors.

'I have a sense it's possible,' GM chief executive Ed Whitacre told reporters in Detroit, Michigan, of a possible Saab sale to Spyker.

The US carmaker is to decide on Saab's future by the end of December, failing which, GM's board will close Saab, Bloomberg financial news reported, quoting Whitacre.

Last month, a consortium structured around the Koenigsegg Group, a low-volume Swedish sports carmaker, surprisingly withdrew from talks with GM, casting the future of Saab into doubt.

Earlier Tuesday, State Secretary Joran Hagglund told Swedish radio that the Swedish government, the National Debt Office and the European Investment Bank (EIB) had started to review the potential bidder, but he declined to name the new group.

The Swedish government wants to ensure that any potential buyer has sufficient financial and organizational strength for Stockholm to guarantee a 600-million-dollar loan from the EIB and not put taxpayers' money at risk, he said.

'The timetable is extremely tight,' Hagglund said.

Speculation has also centred on Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings (BAIC), which on Monday signed a deal with Saab to buy technology and some equipment to make Saab's 9-5 and 9-3 models.

BAIC was earlier in talks with the Koenigsegg consortium.

At stake are some 3,500 jobs at Saab and an additional 3,000 positions with subcontractors, according to the Automotive Supplier Industry.

GM's interest in Saab - one of Europe's smallest carmakers - dates back to the early 1990s. The company took full control in 2000.