Autoblog: Turkish private equity firm jumps into Saab buying fray

[SaabWorld]

Filed under: China, Saab, Middle East


The next chapter in the Saab opera has a new protagonist called Brightwell Holdings, a Turkish private equity firm. Brightwell is is perhaps the unknown Turkish entity mentioned last year as having an interest in bankrupt Saab, along with India's Mahindra & Mahindra. A board member at Brightwell said the company will spend two weeks evaluating Saab's assets and then will make a bid, "there's no question."

Turkey doesn't have a national car company, but it does have plenty of automotive manufacturing expertise since Ford, Fiat and Renault have factories there. Brightwell has said it would keep Saab production in Trollhätten, but (and this is only conjecture) along with a decades-old push for a national car company, the increase of Turkish private equity, and Turkey's desire to join the European Union, the bid could have motivating factors beyond the financial.

Regardless, that means we now have two players in the Saab story, with Youngman's renewed run at Saab expected to result in a bid as soon as next week that could exceed a billion euros. It's difficult to imagine that Saab will somehow be rescued, but the ball is still in play.Turkish private equity firm jumps into Saab buying fray originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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[Golfhunter]

The offer has been withdrawn. We have been in contact with administrators. Because of the attitude of GM, we can not continue," said Ahmed Zamier to di.se Monday night.

Tonight Brighwell Holdings stopped with GM."Everything was under control and we are awaiting final comments from GM. Behavior has changed at the last minute. Unfortunately, I must say I have never experienced such behavior from a company of this size," said Ahmed Zamier and underlines disappointed.

It is the attempt to reach an agreement on licensing critical technology, which GM owns the rights, and the production 9-4X, which did not lead to concrete results, according Zamier Ahmed.What answer would you want GM? "It's very simple. We want them to cooperate."Zamier Ahmed has said he has had discussions with GM, and the signals were positive.

He said he was in contact with members of management at GM, that he also met in Detroit.It was hoped to present a favorable response from GM on Thursday with the bid for Saab.Brightwell but now sees no way to put Saab on foot with the production of models 9-3, 9-5 and 9-4X."Our intention was always to buy Saab for Saab to survive, we needed to start production immediately. I can not see how production could be launched without the cooperation of some of GM," said Ahmed Zamier .

He said he and a team of 36 people have worked on the development of Saab and a business plan in recent weeks - a work which cost several million.The plan was part of Brightwell Holdings regain a majority of the workforce and an old Saab production of 200,000 cars a year within two years."We put a plan on the table so that Saab will survive. GM has not only proved that they were reluctant to cooperate.

It is also my conclusion that GM wants to kill Saab," said Ahmed Zamier.While he lavishes praise on directors, which he described as "very professional"."Everyone has worked with us - administrators, vendors and people at Saab. We were prepared to invest hundreds of millions of euros, but unfortunately the other GM plans," said Ahmed Zamier .

[SaabWorld]

Filed under: China, Europe, GM, Saab, Middle East, Luxury


Nearly three months on the Saab story is the same: company makes a bid, General Motors knocks it back. But this time, the latest round of corporate "He said/She said" puts Turkey's Brightwell Holdings on the other side of the table instead of a Chinese company. Brightwell was the other publicly identified bidder for Saab that pledged to make a bid, along with Chinese concern Youngman.

Brightwell blames GM "intransigence," a familiar epithet by now, has scuppered the possibility of a deal. GM says that's not the case, rather that a deal for Saab can't include any of the technology licensed from GM. Brightwell believed that that condition only applied to Chinese buyers, since GM's position that it didn't want to compete with another company using its intellectual property was always taken in reference to interest from companies like Youngman and Hawtei.

If GM's position is that it won't license its technology to anyone anywhere, that could alter the landscape for the six to 14 bidders rreported to be hovering over Saab's remains. Based on Youngman's last statements, it should still be in the mix, though: it pledged to make a bid for Saab that avoids GM-developed vehicles like the 9-5 and 9-4X and restarts the brand with the new 9-3 on Saab's Phoenix architecture.

Brightman hasn't ruled itself out completely yet. Having spent "millions of euros" on its bid, a firm partner said that if GM is open to discussions then he "will jump on a plane and visit them in Detroit.""Shocked" Brightwell drops Saab bid, blames GM intransigence originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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