A few weeks prior, Swedish Automobile N.V. and Saab Automobile were looking to sell back property to outside investors in order to obtain funds to simply pay its employee’s wages. They announced that they have obtained final approval from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Swedish National Debt Office (NDO) and the Swedish Government for the sale and lease back of Saab property.
The property will go to the consortium of Swedish real estate investors, who will purchase 50.1 percent of the shares. Led by Hemfosa Fastigheter, the consortium is giving up 255 million swedish kronor (40 million U.S. dollars) for the property but can increase their ownership to 300 million SEK if done with in 30 days.
With this new buy-out, the total amount of funds raised by Saab within the last few weeks is now about 61 million euros. Even so, the company is still looking to raise more funds from outside investors in order to start full production and sustain it. Their plan is to do so by August of this year.
Read the full press release below.
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Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (SWAN) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) obtained final approval from the EIB, the NDO and the Swedish government for the sale and lease back of the Saab property.
The consortium of Swedish real estate investors led by Hemfosa Fastigheter, and including among others, Brinova Fastigheter AB, PEAB and Weland Fastigheter will purchase 50.1% of the shares in Saab Property AB for a total consideration of SEK 255 million, reflecting an adjustment to the transaction price for a one year lease free period. Of the SEK 255 million consideration, SEK 205 million will be paid in cash on closing and the remaining SEK 50 million in the form of a sellable bond convertible into shares of the purchasing company. The investors have the right to increase their commitment to SEK 300 million within 30 days after closing on similar terms. The parties will proceed to closing the transaction today.
With this transaction SWAN and Saab Automobile will have raised about EUR 61 million in additional funding commitments over the past weeks. Saab Automobile continues its discussions with its suppliers on materials supply and commercial terms and is close to reaching agreements. SWAN and Saab Automobile continue their discussions with several parties to obtain further short-term funding to be able to restart and sustain production, including completion of a drawdown under the EIB loan facility.
Given the fact that some of Saab Automobile’s suppliers require a longer lead time to resume adequate supplies and the delay as a result of the summer shutdown period at many of Saab Automobile’s European suppliers, Saab Automobile plans to restart production by Tuesday August 9, provided that the above criteria are met.
