Bloomberg [via the Financial Post] reports that “one of the five biggest European banks” is “close” to loaning Saab $157m so that it may pay workers and suppliers, in order to move towards restarting production. According to DI.se, the deal is predicated on Saab securitizing the loan with shares of Saab Great Britain or other “alternative assets.” But apparently whatever the banks ask for, Saab will try to give, as Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers analyst Tom Muller explains
They need the money immediately. I hope they solve it this week, otherwise I think it’s over for Saab. It’s a very dire situation.
He’s not kidding…
Even in a “nuclear winter” scenario, Saab needs about $50m per month to keep the lights on. Add about $8m for supplier debts already logged with the kronofogden, and Saab might hold off bankruptcy for another week. To restart production, however, it needs to spend anywhere from $30m to $60m in order to pay off its entire estimated supplier debt. And get this: according to Bloomberg, Swedish Automobile’s market capitalization on the Dutch exchange is under €18m (about $26m at current exchange rates), but it’s still waiting on €245m (about $353m) from PangDa and Youngman in a deal that would value the company at over half a billion dollars. This looks quite a bit like a bridge to nowhere…