Dutch car minnow Spyker revealed today a deal with Chinese carmaker Hawtai to pump €150m into stricken Saab, hoping this will be a key to sales in China.
Spyker described the partnership as a 'mid-term' solution to its liquidity crisis. Under the deal, Spyker which had rescued Saab, is to receive €120m in return for shares and €30m in the form of a convertible loan from the Hawtai Motor group.
The announcement comes a day after Spyker said it had secured a short-term cash injection of €30m to restart production within a week.
'Saab is now well financed, it has secured its short and mid-term financing,' Spyker head Victor Muller said. 'That puts the liquidity crunch that the company went through in the month of April to bed,' he added.
Saab announced on April 6 this year it was stopping production 'until further notice' as suppliers halted deliveries due to unpaid bills. The stop marked the latest of a series of obstacles Spyker, a car industry minnow, had been faced with since acquiring Saab from US car giant General Motors for $400m in early 2010.
The Dutch firm said its partnership with Hawtai, a Beijing-based automotive company founded in 2000, would see the Chinese firm take 'a maximum equity stake of 29.9% in Spyker on a fully diluted basis.'
The Hawtai deal was subject to approval and conditions including the consent of Chinese government agencies, the European Investment Bank and the Swedish National Debt office, Spyker said.
Muller said the deal meant Hawtai would start producing Saabs locally for the Chinese market.
Hawtai has the capacity to produce 350,000 vehicles, 300,000 engines and 450,000 automatic transmissions per year, Spyker said.
