GM's Saab: Upbeat On Sale, But No Talks With Fiat
06 Mai 2009 - 3:08PM
Dow Jones News
Saab Automobile AB, the Swedish unit that owner General Motors
Corp.'s (GM) wants to sell, has not had any discussions with Fiat
SpA (FIA) but remains upbeat it will find a buyer by early summer,
a Saab spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.
"We're not closing the door" on Fiat, Eric Geers said.
Fiat, after acquiring a stake in Chrysler LLC last week, has
said it wants to merge its car unit with GM's European operations,
which include Opel and Saab, to create the world's second-largest
automaker after Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO).
However, Fiat has not yet contacted Saab, Geers said. Fiat is
also not among the 10 parties that in recent weeks have visited
Saab's main factory in Trollhattan in southwestern Sweden as part
of Saab's sales process, he said.
Saab is now working to narrow down the list of potential buyers.
"We're going to scale it down to a few - to one or two or three,"
he said. "That's going to happen this week and next week."
He declined to say how many of the 10 parties that have visited
Saab have said they remain interested.
Geers reiterated Saab's goal that it be sold by "early summer."
He said that could mean "in June, or maybe the first week in
July."
Saab is declining to identify the 10 visitors, but Geers
repeated earlier comments they're "a mix of car makers and
investors."
"The only other thing we can say about them is that they are
very, very interested, they are strong candidates," he said. "We
view it very positively."
Company Web site: www.saab.com
-By Ola Kinnander, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3097; ola.kinnander@dowjones.com