Ecclestone: an unlikely Saab saviour
Bernie Ecclestone and Luxembourg investment firm Genii Capital have made a surprise last-minute bid to snap up Saab.
The latest twist in the will-GM-sell-it-or-kill-it Saab saga comes after Dutch supercar firm Spyker put in a revised bid for GM's Swedish luxury brand yesterday (7 Jan).
Billionaire F1 supremo Ecclestone has teamed up with Genii, who recently purchased a 75 per cent stake in the Renault F1 team, because he feels that Saab is a "good brand that has probably been neglected by the current owners". He hasn't said how far he's delving into his own pocket, however.
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Genii said in a statement that Saab "has a tremendous brand value in a number of key automotive markets as well as an innovative image" that would sit well with other companies in Genii's portfolio, which includes "producers of on-board IT and media technologies - including pay per listen/pay per use systems".
Genii is rumoured to have based its business plan on Koenigsegg's - whose failed bid only collapsed due to a lack of finance.
The GM board is due to make a (hopefully final) decision over Saab's future next Thursday, when it considers Genii's and Spyker's bids, as well as two other bids from Swedish consortiums.