Tag: Saab company

Saab Automobile Update

Trollhättan, Sweden: Management of Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) and Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) confirm that the reorganization is progressing and that a first payment by Youngman under the bridge loan funding commitment as announced on September 12 was received by Saab Automobile.

Further payments under the amended and final bridge loan agreements signed between Youngman and Saab Automobile are expected to be made during this week and by October 22 of this year. It is the intention to repay the bridge loan with the proceeds of the EUR 245 million equity investments by Youngman and Pang Da, which are still subject to approval by relevant authorities and parties which Swan expects to receive during the next weeks.

SWAN, SAAB AUTOMOBILE AND PANG DA RESPOND TO MEDIA REPORTS

Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 12 October 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) and Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., Ltd (Pang Da) have taken notice of media reports questioning the validity of the partnership agreements between Swan, Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) and Pang Da after Saab Automobile entered into voluntary reorganization. Swan, Saab Automobile and Pang Da underline that these reports are based on a misunderstanding.

A post about nothing

Hi all,

We’ve received a few comments, and a few submissions via the contact page, asking for some clarification as to what’s being reported in various press outlets right now.

If you’re a regular Inside Saab reader, you’ll know that I’m currently on vacation and away from Sweden. That limits the amount of current information I have access to and thus, what I could possibly say on Inside Saab about these reports.

Regardless of being away, however, I don’t think there is much that I would be able to say right now, anyway. The situation is quite delicate at this point in time and our ability to comment on any ongoing matters is very restricted. We remain as a listed company and cannot comment on speculative matters being reported in the press.

I know that a lot of Saab fans and other stakeholders are concerned for the future right now and I can assure you that our executive continues to work tirelessly towards securing this future. We will comment further when there’s more that we can say.

In the meantime, thanks as always for your support. It is felt, and it is appreciated.

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As always, when following news stories about Saab, I’d recommend you read my quick guide to internet journalism and wash the news through the filter of your own research.

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Project Cheetah

The Cheetah is the world’s fastest land-based animal and right now, Saab is looking to employ some speed when dealing with reorganising its business. We are aiming to make substantial efficiency gains and cost savings as we become more competitive for the future.

Work began on Project Cheetah on the strategic level even before the reorganisation decision came through. Today, just days after the reorganisation decision, meetings are already taking place around the company with individual sections of the business looking at how they can do things smarter, leaner and meaner.

Saab has a well-ingrained culture of consultation, seeking suggestions from employees as to how their particular work area can operate better. Saab actually won a Swedish lean production award a few years ago for it’s work in developing and implementing this type of system. Cheetah is this process on steroids, with everyone involved.

Cheetah is a cost-structure project. It doesn’t specifically look at how to increase sales and revenue. That’s the other side of our profitability equation that will receive intense attention. Cheetah will play into this, however, because getting ourselves even more competitive, coming through the reorganisation process successfully and getting production up and running again will play a significant part in boosting consumer confidence about the future of Saab.

Cheetah is being overseen by a steering group, under which four functional teams are being used to look at the whole business structure at Saab. The four functional teams are:

  • Manufacturing and purchasing
  • Product development, including engineering and powertrain
  • Sales, Marketing, Aftersales and communication
  • Administration

There will also be a cross-functional team to handle appropriate areas requiring co-ordination between the four functional teams.

The individual units within these teams will be getting together very quickly, taking suggestions from the troops on the ground as to how their operations can be better and more efficiently structured. Much of our recent past has been involved with the carve-out of business operations from the systems that were in place from the GM days. Cheetah will be an opportunity to create a new ‘Saab way’ of working more efficiently and effectively within our own systems, instead of working in transition as we’ve done in the recent past.

The initial workings of the project are expected to be completed late October. This will be the consultation and planning process. We will seek to implement changes discovered during the consultation and planning process by the end of 2011 in order to have the new, more competitive structure in place for the beginning of 2012.

Press Release: Saab Automobile Voluntary Reorganization Filing Approved

Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB and its subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB (collectively Saab Automobile) received approval for their proposal for voluntary reorganization from the Court of Appeal in Gothenburg, Sweden today. The purpose of the voluntary reorganization process is to secure short-term stability while simultaneously attracting additional funding, pending the inflow of the equity contributions by Pang Da and Youngman.

The Swedish Company Reorganization Act says that an application shall not be approved unless there is reasonable cause to assume that the purpose of the reorganization will be achieved. In today’s decision, the Court of Appeal has found that such conditions exist, thereby overturning an earlier ruling by the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden.

As a consequence of the Court of Appeal ruling, Saab Automobile will request for the bankruptcy filings by unions IF Metall, Unionen and Ledarna to be cancelled.

Press Release: Saab Automobile And Saab Automobile Powertrain Dispute Union Bankruptcy Filings

Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB and Saab Automobile Powertrain AB (collectively Saab Automobile) have officially disputed the bankruptcy filings by two Swedish unions with the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden.

Both companies argue they are not insolvent and have only temporary liquidity problems which they expect to solve following the planned equity contributions by Pang Da and Youngman, for which regulatory approval is expected in November. Saab Automobile continues to await the decision of the Court of Appeal in Gothenburg on the company’s appeal against the decision by the District Court to reject’s Saab Automobile’s application for voluntary reorganization.

Reorg appeal: The first ‘Yes’

Press Release from SWAN:

COURT OF APPEAL GRANTS RIGHT OF APPEAL TO SAAB AUTOMOBILE IN VOLUNTARY REORGANIZATION CASE

Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 19 September 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB and its subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB (collectively Saab Automobile) received a right to appeal from the Court of Appeal in Gothenburg, Sweden today in their efforts to obtain approval for its proposal for voluntary reorganization.

Saab Automobile is pleased with the Court’s decision and will now await further developments. The Court of Appeal is expected to rule shortly on Saab Automobile’s appeal against the decision by the District Court in Vänersborg to reject Saab Automobile’s proposal for voluntary reorganization.

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And written prior to the press release…..

The court in Gothenburg has agreed to consider Saab’s appeal against the decision made last week in Vanersborg.

That’s the first “yes” we needed to hear.

Now, the case will be considered by a panel of judges, who will either rule in favour of Saab’s application for Reorganisation (the second ‘Yes’), or will rule against, which Saab could theoretically then appeal to the Supreme Court in Sweden.

This is a pretty big reorganisation application, said to be one of the biggest in Sweden and almost definitely the biggest taken to the appeal stage. Whilst the court has an obligation under the law to deal with the decision quickly, it’s possibly going to take a little time as they consider the precedent they’re setting. They do aim to have a decision prior to any scheduled bankruptcy hearing, the first of which is due on Sept 26. So bankruptcy filings at this point are little more than legal positioning and reason for a headline.

We still have confidence in them reaching a favourable reorganisation decision. Why? Because our business is still a good one with a lot going for it and that should be evident from the material supplied to the court.

Saab news – PDRC approval and events timeline

Some news from inside Saab that I thought you’d be interested in seeing. The process so far and the processes to come.

Important bit of good news first…..

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Important milestone achieved in China process

Today, the PDRC, the provincial equivalent of the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) approved the deal between Saab, Pang Da and Youngman. The decision is an important step in the process of getting NDRC’s approval.

There are three levels of this authority:

  • DRC – the local authority, which has already given its approval
  • PDRC – the provincial authority, which thus gave its approval today
  • NDRC – the National Authority

We have passed two of the three levels, and will now proceed to the NDRC.

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A summary of the events of recent days

  • Wednesday, September 7th Saab Automobile applied for voluntary reorganization in Vänersborg.
  • The scope of the application included Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB. Other units, including Saab Parts and foreign subsidiaries (including Saab Great Britian and Saab Cars North America), were excluded.
  • Thursday, September 8 it was announced in Vänersborg that the court rejected the Saab reorganisation application.
  • The same day, Saab announced its intention to appeal this decision, because it disagreed with how the court interprets the law and its application.
  • The appeal was submitted to the District Court on Monday 12 September.
  • The new documentation, among other things, included a number of improvements implemented since the first reconstruction in 2009
  • Letters from Pang Da and Youngman were included, thatclarify their commitment to Saab, and also to state that they have no reason to believe that the approval process with the Chinese authorities would not be completed or that there will be unexpected delays.
  • As part of the reorganisation application, Saab also added information about a new contract that guarantees a so-called “bridge loan” of 70 million euros, roughly equivalent to 622 million SEK.
  • Monday 12 September, two Unions filed for bankruptcy for Saab.
  • According to information, it may take at least a few weeks for the court to consider this petition, which is a separate process from Saab’s reorganisation application, which is to be decided immediately.
  • Both the leaders of the Unions have signaled that they contribute to the stay of bankruptcy if the Court of Appeal will take time to deal with reorganisation application.

What happens next?

  • District Court will now send the appeal to the Court of Appeal. It is the district court’s duty to do so promptly. They have chosen to do so by postal mail, which means that the appeal will reach the Court of Appeal on Wednesday 14 September.
  • The Court of Appeal first has to permit an appeal, that is, decide whether to reconsider the matter. It is the first time they have to consider a case of this kind and it is difficult to estimate how long it will take. It is estimated that it will take between one and a couple of days. After a decision to permit the appeal, it should be dealt with immediately in accordance with the law.
  • It is in any case, likely that Saab’s appeal to the Court of Appeal will be dealt with more quickly than the unions’ petition to the district court.

I’ve written more about this subject, below.

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Press Release: Saab Automobile Lodges Appeal Against District Court Ruling

Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB and its subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB (collectively Saab Automobile) today lodged their appeal against the District Court’s decision last week to reject Saab Automobile’s proposal for voluntary reorganization. The appeal will be heard by the Court of Appeal in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Saab Automobile is of the opinion that by rejecting the voluntary reorganization proposal based on the reasons cited in the rejection statement, the District Court went considerably further in its consideration than what the legislator intended. Saab Automobile is of the opinion that the District Court has left out of consideration that the District Court’s assignment is to avoid pure abuse of the Swedish Company Reorganization Act approval of a reorganization request shall be based on the provision of a limited amount of documentation. Thus, Saab Automobile is of the opinion that in its ruling, the District Court has applied a much stricter standard of proof than is required under the Act.

The documentation for appeal contains, among other things, a number of improvements Saab Automobile has implemented since the last reorganization. This includes a patent application for Saab Automobile-developed extended range propulsion technology (EREV) that would considerably reduce fuel consumption in next-generation Saab vehicles, as well as the Saab Automobile-developed modular vehicle architecture.

In the meantime, Swan and Saab Automobile continue discussions with several parties about obtaining additional funding for the short term. Pang Da and Youngman continue working on obtaining approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for their equity investments worth EUR 245 million in Saab Automobile and have no reason to believe that the approval process will not be completed, nor that there will be unexpected delays. The approval process is expected to be finalized early November. Youngman and Pang Da intend after the initial equity contribution to contribute with additional capital.

The EUR 70 million commitment of Youngman and the technology license agreement between Saab Automobile and a special purpose vehicle, as communicated in the press release of this morning, are part of a bridge financing transaction. This bridge financing transaction and receipt of funds by Saab Automobile are still subject to finalization of definitive transaction documentation with the lender that will provide the bridge loan. Saab Automobile expects to finalize this process by September 26. Furthermore, international banks have shown interest in taking over Saab Automobile’s existing loans in order to add further liquidity to the company.

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