("Saab's Creditors May Seal Company's Fate Monday," published
Sunday April 5 at 1541 GMT incorrectly referred to Swedish
aerospace and defense company Saab AB. The corrected version
follows.)
STOCKHOLM (AFP)--Creditors may seal the fate of beleaguered
Swedish car maker Saab Automobile AB Monday when they gather for a
court hearing to determine if the group's legal restructuring
process can continue.
Some 1,300 creditors have been summoned to the hearing in the
Vaenersborg district court in southwestern Sweden, Swedish news
agency TT reports.
The company's days could be numbered if any one of them opposes
the restructuring process that Saab launched on Feb. 20 to stave
off bankruptcy and become an independent unit after it was dumped
by its owner U.S. car maker General Motors Corp. (GM).
"If a creditor demands (that the restructuring process be
halted), the court has to decide whether to do so," one of the
court's three judges, Cecilia Tisell, told TT.
The court's decision would then be based on whether Saab's
survival plan looks realistic.
"We can halt the restructuring process if we find that the aim
is not being achieved," she said.
Should the court find against Saab, the company would either
have to declare bankruptcy or find a buyer.
The reorganization is a Swedish legal process headed by an
independent administrator appointed by the court who is working
with Saab management.
The process allows parts of Saab to survive and could enable
suppliers, who would lose all the money owed them by the company if
it filed for bankruptcy, to get some money back by agreeing to
accept partial repayment.
GM, which bought 50% of Saab in 1990 and acquired the rest 10
years later, has washed its hands of the unit after years of
losses, and has called on the Swedish government to step up and
rescue it.
But Stockholm has sharply criticized GM's decision to let Saab
go, and has repeatedly stated that it will not take over the car
maker.
Saab employs about 4,100 people in Sweden. Including suppliers,
15,000 jobs in the Scandinavian country are believed to be at risk
if the unit disappears.