Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile and Pang Da Automobile Trade have agreed to pay €100 million, or $140 million, for Saab and its British unit, said Swedish Automobile, the parent company.
The deal remains dependent on the Chinese companies’ winning the approval of the authorities in Beijing, a requirement that torpedoed the efforts of a previous would-be rescuer, Hawtai Motor Group. But there have been hints that officials will look favorably on this effort.
The companies hope the commitment of new funds will provide Saab Automobile with the long-term funding it needs to update its product lineup and become competitive again.
Martin Skold, a scholar at the Swedish School of Economics in Stockholm who follows the auto industry, said it was too early to say Saab was saved.
“Saab is in great need of an enormous amount of money,” he said, estimating that it would take at least $800 million and possibly as much as $1.5 billion to turn it around. “We’ll have to wait to see how much the Chinese are willing to invest in it,” he added.
Saab was acquired from General Motors by Victor R. Muller, the Dutch entrepreneur behind Spyker cars and Swedish Automobile. But Saab, which has a long-established base of dedicated customers, has so far not been able to turn around its fortunes. Suppliers began cutting off credit in March, and Saab’s main factory in Trollhattan, Sweden, has not produced a car since the spring.
Youngman and Pang Da had previously agreed to invest a combined €245 million for a 54 percent stake, but negotiations dragged on, leaving Saab in an increasingly precarious state.
With employees unpaid for months, Saab’s unions began legal proceedings in September that could have put the company into bankruptcy. Mr. Muller sought and received court protection from creditors to gain time to complete the Chinese investments.
By the past week, it appeared that the final countdown had begun for Saab. The administrator in charge of the voluntary reorganization, Guy Lofalk, recommended to the court overseeing the case that the reorganization be halted.
Saab said Friday that Mr. Lofalk had “withdrawn his application to exit reorganization.” The agreement with the two Chinese companies is valid until Nov. 15, Saab said, provided the reorganization continues.
A woman answering the phone at the general manager’s office of Pang Da confirmed Friday that an agreement had been reached with Saab, but she had no comment on the details. A woman answering the phone at the general manager’s office of Youngman said that she had no information and that all senior people in the office were traveling and could not be reached for comment.
The Chinese authorities have said little publicly about their thoughts regarding the Saab negotiations. Reuters cited the Pang Da chairman, Pang Qinghua, as saying this month that he had received positive feedback from the authorities regarding the investment.
Another deal, General Motors’ planned 2010 sale of its Hummer unit to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines, failed after the Chinese Commerce Ministry, which must approve large overseas investments, refused to bless the deal. Hummer eventually shut down.
Keith Bradsher and Hilda Wang contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
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