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Offloading Saab, like most celebrity break-ups, may prove to be very expensive. The Swedish brand which filed for bankruptcy last month is well on its way to finding a new owner. While ditching the unprofitable automaker may be good financial decision in the long term, the separation could cost GM up to $1 billion in the short term.
In GM’s annual report for 2008, the company said “We anticipate that we will no longer consolidate Saab beginning in the three months ending March 31, 2009, and anticipate recording a significant loss which could exceed $1.0 billion on de-consolidation.”
Meanwhile, Saab is working on a three month, court-supervised restructuring process that started in February. Managing Director, Jan-Ake Jonsson, has said the brand intends to identify a new owner in the next two months. GM will only continue to fund the brand until January 1, 2010 and the Swedish government will not provide any aid until a long-term owner has been found.
Source: Bloomberg.com
SAAB was a good ocmpany before GM bought them, after that, GM proceeded to screw SAAB up pretty good.
I write to clarify: SAAB HAS NOT FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY – it has filed for reorganization. This is very different! Saab continues to operate as usual an in accordance with the formal reorganization process.