Sweden summons Spyker to explain collateral situation

Dow Jones Newswires - Dutch automaker Spyker Cars NV (SPYKR.AE) Friday was summoned by Sweden's National Debt Office to answer questions about collateral put up in exchange for credit guarantees after it announced a share issue and said the chief executive of its Saab Automobile AB unit had decided to retire.

"We want to make sure that Saab has enough collateral to meet the terms of our credit guarantee agreement," Debt office General Director Bo Lundgren told Dow Jones Newswires. A meeting is scheduled for Monday.

Saab Automobile borrowed 3.6 billion Swedish kronor ($568 million) from the European Investment Bank in 2010 when Spyker bought the car maker from General Motors Co. (GM) for about $400 million in cash and shares. As part of conditions for that loan, Sweden put up credit guarantees totaling SEK1.9 billion to date.

"We have collateral that exceeds our guarantees, but we have to safeguard the interests of our taxpayers," Lundgren said.

Spyker Friday said it will issue 5.6 million shares for a total of EUR13.6 million to three investors. One of those investors, Tenaci Capital B.V., is owned by Helvetia BV, an investment company owned by Spyker Chief Executive Victor Muller. The second fund, Dorwing Solution Limited, is owned by Brendan O'Toole, who is already a Spyker shareholder after he bought 1.3 million shares from Muller after Spyker's deal to buy Saab so that the CEO kept his interest below the 30% threshhold above which he'd have had to make an offer for the whole company. The identity of the third investor, Trenton International Ltd., wasn't immediately apparent.

Muller and O'Toole weren't immediately available to comment.

In August last year, Muller had said the company didn't have to issue any shares.

The move comes as the company announced Saab Chief Executive Jan Ake Jonsson had decided to retire after the company's annual general meeting May 19. The announcement of his departure comes days after the company said the its chief financial officer-designate, Nils-Johan Andersson, had decided not to join Saab.

Until a successor to Jonsson is found, Muller temporarily will assume the title of chief executive of Saab in addition to his role as chairman of the board.

"It will not be easy to replace the CEO and will become a time-consuming exercise for Spyker," said AEK Research analyst Martin Crum. It remained unclear why the two executives were leaving, but it was bad news for Saab, he added.

Christer Karlsson, professor at the department of operations management at Copenhagen Business School, said it seemed unlikely to be a coincidence that both the CEO and the CFO-designate were leaving Saab so soon after one another.

"There's probably disagreement between the board and the executives regarding the future of the company," Karlsson said.

Spyker said it had begun the search for a new CEO, but added that Jonsson remained available until Sept. 1 and had agreed to assist Saab's management with a smooth transition. Muller told reporters he hoped to name a new chief executive soon.

"I have been with Saab for almost my entire career of 40 years, of which almost six years as the head of Saab Automobile," Jonsson said in a statement. "The last three years have of course been very demanding and forced me to focus on one thing only--my work. Now it is time for me to also spend some time on other things that had to stand back for my duties to Saab."

Jonsson is credited with steering Saab through some difficult times. It flirted with closure after it was put up for sale by GM, which itself sought bankruptcy protection from its creditors during the economic downturn. In February last year, Saab was purchased by Spyker, a maker of high-end sports cars.

"We owe Jan Ake so much for his relentless efforts to overcome the adversities Saab encountered in 2008-2010 and has lead his dedicated management to performances way beyond the call of duty," said Hans Hugenholtz, chairman of Spyker's supervisory board.

News of Jonsson's pending departure comes after Andersson, who was due to take over as CFO May 1, said he would remain with his current employer, Lindab International AB (LIAB.SK), a Swedish ventilation and building products supplier. Saab Thursday announced that Rob Schuyt, senior vice president of corporate development at Spyker Cars, will be acting head of finance.

Spyker, which is listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, Friday reported a 2010 net loss of EUR218 million and said 2011 also would be a loss-making year. It expects to generate a profit in 2012.

Muller told reporters he expected Russian entrepreneur Vladimir Antonov to return as a shareholder "sooner or later." Antonov previously owned a stake of about 30% in Spyker, but was forced to sell last year as a condition of Spyker's acquisition of Saab.

Also Friday, Spyker said it would enter the Chinese and Russian markets. Saab signed an agreement with China Automobile Trading Co., which will import Saab cars into China, and with Moscow-based Armand Import to be Saab's importer and distributor in Russia.

At 1340 GMT, Spyker shares traded down EUR0.34, or 6.8%, at EUR4.66.