Saab suffers another setback

Saab lurched further into crisis yesterday as two of the cash-strapped Swedish car maker’s own unions served bankruptcy applications despite the company having conjured up a promise of £60.4m in vital financing.

By The Newsroom

Published 13th Sep 2011, 10:33 BST

Two white-collar unions at Saab, whose members had their June and July salaries delayed and have not yet been paid for August, said their patience had run out and that they were using their right to apply to put Saab into bankruptcy.

“This is not a situation any member of Unionen wishes to be in,” said Cecilia Fahlberg, chairwoman of the union, after the application.

The move came after Saab announced the latest in a long line of money-raising exercises led by chief executive Victor Muller, saying it had arranged 70 million euros in bridge financing with the help of a Chinese guarantee.

Saab hopes the money will help persuade a Swedish court to give it protection from creditors for the second time in two and a half years.