Reuters (Stockholm) - Saab staved off a fresh bankruptcy threat on Friday by finding the money to pay its workers, but its car production lines remained silent and its long-term funding issues unresolved.
Fears over the survival of the 60-year-old firm, rescued from closure early last year, have ebbed and flowed as owner Swedish Automobile chases funding. Its production line has been closed since late April.
On Friday the company paid a delayed July salary to its 1,600 whitecollar workers, almost half the workforce. This stopped unions from pursuing a bankruptcy application. Swedish Automobile share rose 2 percent on the news. But there is more to do.
"We still need to reach an agreement on a delivery plan with suppliers," said spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs.
She repeated the company's view that production would not start before Aug 29 at the very earliest.
Saab was one of the victims of the post-2008 auto industry crisis that forced its then parent General Motors into a decision to close the business down. Swedish Motors, then called Spyker, put a rescue package together in early 2010 with help from European funding and guarantees from the Swedish government.
Its latest financial problems developed in late April as sales stalled leaving it unable to pay suppliers, who then halted deliveries. The production line has been down almost continuously since then.
Swedish Automobile chief executive Victor Muller has lined up investments from Chinese car distributor Pangda and carmaker Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co.
Russian financier Vladimir Antonov, a former owner of Swedish Automobile, is still waiting in the wings. His bid to acquire a stake and invest has been frustrated by Saab creditor, the European Investment Bank (EIB).
GM remains a shareholder and any ownership changes have to be approved by it, the EIB and the Swedish government, which guaranteed the EIB loan to Saab.
On Thursday, Swedish business daily Dagens Industri reported that a big American investor was planning to go in as a part owner in Saab. Gustavs declined to comment on the article.
In another cash raising exercise, U.S.-based GEM Global Yield Fund Ltd. agreed this week to buy about 5 million new shares in Swedish Automobile for just under 7 million euros.
Last month, Saab managed to fend off another bankruptcy claim by settling with a supplier. Within days, it announced it was unable to pay the whitecollar workers as some funds from investors had not been paid in time.
Muller has insisted that the future remains bright for Saab with new cars coming out and the Chinese orders in the books, but industry analysts have said that Saab's small size will make it difficult for the company to compete.
