Dutch sportscar maker Spyker said on Monday that the outcome of ongoing negotiations with General Motors over the acquisition of Sweden’s Saab remained “uncertain.”
“Spyker confirms that talks are ongoing, the outcome of which is still uncertain,” it said in a statement in reaction to “recent press speculation about the Saab negotiations.”
Swedish television reported on Monday that Spyker has reached a deal with GM over Saab, which employs 3,400 people in Sweden.
Saab is one of four brands being shed by GM as part of a massive restructuring effort that began in 2005 and accelerated last year when the largest US automaker went bankrupt.
GM announced on December 18 that it would wind down Saab while considering several last-ditch bids for the iconic brand, which has barely turned a profit during two decades under GM ownership.
But earlier this month, GM chief Ed Whitacre said the US auto giant had essentially given up on selling Saab as nobody had come up with the money to seal the deal. He has put a price of 450 million dollars on the Swedish carmaker.
Analysts have warned that some 8,000 jobs could be lost through Saab’s closure.
Spyker, located at Zeewolde in the central Netherlands, manufactured 21 cars in the first quarter of 2009 and sold 23, with prices starting at 199,990 euros.
Thirty percent of its shares are held by Russian financing group Convers, controlled by Russian billionaire Vladimir Antonov.
Spyker’s shares gained more than 60 percent on the Amsterdam stock exchange to reach 3.53 euros at one point.
