Several potential buyers have shown interest in Swedish carmaker Saab which is restructuring to become an independent unit after it was cut loose by its owner General Motors, according to the Swedish government.
'Some of them have contacted the (enterprise) ministry and we have referred them to the administrator of the restructuring. So far so good,' Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson said today during a visit to Saab's hub in the south-western Swedish town of Trollhaettan, TT news agency reported.
Olofsson did not disclose the names of the parties.
State Secretary Joeran Haegglund deemed the potential buyers as serious candidates.
'There are some interesting names,' he said, disclosing no details.
Meanwhile, Saab's managing director Jan Aake Jonsson said the interested parties were 'from the automobile industry and outside the industry,' both in Sweden and abroad.
GM warned last week that Saab would have to file for bankruptcy protection 'as early as this month' unless it received help from the Swedish government, which flatly refused to step in and rescue the auto maker.
As a result, Saab last week applied for restructuring, a legal process run by a court-appointed administrator, in a bid to survive on its own.
Restructuring allows parts of Saab to survive and could enable suppliers, who would lose all the money owed them by the company if it filed for bankruptcy, to get some money back by agreeing to accept partial repayment.
Olofsson said the government had not 'closed the door' on state loan guarantees for a Saab loan from the European Investment Bank, but said it would only step in as a guarantor if Saab found a new buyer.
Jonsson said that condition 'complicated the process,' but remained confident the government would provide guarantees once a new owner was in place.
'He said he believed a solution could be found 'within three months.'
Germany car maker BMW, Renault of France as well as India's Tata Motors have often been cited in the media as potential buyers for the iconic Swedish brand.
GM bought 50% of Saab in 1990 and acquired the rest 10 years later. But the Swedish company has registered chronic losses over the past 20 years.
The brand, once renowned for its cutting-edge technology and futuristic designs, has in recent years suffered from an aging product line and plunging sales.
In the fourth quarter last year, Saab's sales nosedived 38% to just 17,900 cars.
For all of 2008, the Swedish automaker sold 93,300 vehicles, down from 120,000 just three years earlier.
