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Report: Saab Deal With Chinese Partner Collapses

This is very bad. Remember the deal between Hawtai Motors and Saab? Collapsed.

According to The Detroit News, the deal, which involved a 29.9 percent stake in Saab in exchange for $172 million, fell apart early Thursday morning. The problem was reportedly that Hawtai wasn't able to obtain all the stakeholder consent needed, forcing the Chinese automaker to terminate the pact.

Saab and Hawtai are reportedly continuing to work on resurrecting a deal, but the Swedish automaker has said in a statement that the talks are no longer exclusive.

Meanwhile, Saab is still in talks with the European Investment Bank to complete a $41 million loan drawdown. Saab is reportedly waiting on the green light to sell some of its property, since the land is currently used as collateral with the Swedish National Debt Office. The battered brand has secured a $48 million Swedish government loan to keep the doors open for the short term, and the automaker is reportedly still looking to strike a deal with Russian investor Vladimir Antonov.

Will the collapse of the Hawtai Motors deal lead to the final demise of the rope-a-dope automaker? We're not so sure – Saab's been something of a financial Houdini over these last 18 months, and the automaker appears to have deals cooking all over Europe.

Bottom line
With the deal gone, we're guessing that Priority Number One at Saab is finding a new Chinese partner to help secure the future of the company.

[Source: Detroit News]

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