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Saab sold to Chinese-Swedish investment group | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Bankrupt carmaker Saab has been sold to a Chinese-Swedish investment group which aims to turn the company into a maker of electric vehicles. | |
Saab's administrator said the buyer was National Electric Vehicle Sweden (Nevs). No sale price was given. | |
Saab went bankrupt in December, two years after former owner General Motors sold it to Dutch group Spyker. | |
Saab "will start a new operation" to develop and produce electric cars, the administrator said in a statement. | |
The administrator said in April that Saab had assets to cover about a third of its debts of 13bn kronor (£1.2bn). | The administrator said in April that Saab had assets to cover about a third of its debts of 13bn kronor (£1.2bn). |
The chief executive and main owner of Nevs is a Chinese businessman with Swedish citizenship, Kai Johan Jiang. | The chief executive and main owner of Nevs is a Chinese businessman with Swedish citizenship, Kai Johan Jiang. |
The chairman of Nevs is Karl-Erling Trogen, a former head of the truck division of truck and construction equipment maker Volvo. | The chairman of Nevs is Karl-Erling Trogen, a former head of the truck division of truck and construction equipment maker Volvo. |
"Nevs and the receivers of the Saab Automobile bankruptcy estate today signed a purchase agreement which covers the main assets of Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB," Nevs and the administrators said in a joint statement. | |
Saab employs about 3,000 people, with its main base at Trollhattan, west Sweden, where investment in new electric car manufacturing will be made. | |
GM bought a 50% stake and management control of Saab in 1989, and gained full ownership in 2000. | |
The Swedish company's car sales peaked at 133,000 cars in 2006. After that, sales dwindled to 93,000 cars in 2008 and just 27,000 in 2009. | |
GM itself sought bankruptcy protection as the global financial crisis unfolded, forcing the US company to dispose of assets. | |
In 2010, Saab's larger rival, Volvo, was rescued by China's Geely Automobile Holdings. |