Sweden

Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile said it was getting positive signs from authorities in Beijing about its plans to invest in cash-strapped Saab, a Swedish daily reported on Saturday, Reuters reported. Youngman and Chinese car company Pangda Automobile Trade Co Ltd are seeking approval from China's authorities to invest 245 million euros in Saab, now owned by Swedish Automobile.

A Swedish court on Thursday rejected beleaguered carmaker Saab's request for protection from its creditors, pushing the company one step closer to bankruptcy, Agence France-Presse reported. The company is now at the mercy of its creditors, including its employees who have not been paid their August wages. "The Vaenersborg district court has today decided to reject Saab's ... request for a voluntary reorganisation process," the court said in a statement.

The owner of cash-strapped car maker Saab filed for bankruptcy protection in a last-ditch attempt to salvage a brand crippled by production stoppages, withheld salary payments and mounting debt, The New Zealand Herald reported. Swedish Automobile, formerly known as Spyker Cars, said the move would buy it time to receive funding from Chinese investors, currently awaiting regulatory approval, and avoid bankruptcy.

Swedish auto maker Saab Automobile AB could be forced into bankruptcy over unpaid wages by the end of this week, labor union IF Metall said Monday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Darko Davidovic, a lawyer at IF Metall, told Dow Jones that on Aug. 26 Saab received requests for payment of the union's 1,486 members' wages for August. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Saab Automobile’s two biggest unions said they’re likely to ask a court to put the cash-starved Swedish carmaker into bankruptcy in about two weeks unless salaries are paid by then, Bloomberg reported. Saab, which is scheduled to pay factory workers tomorrow and administrative employees Aug. 26, said yesterday that it may be forced to postpone wage payments as “committed” funds from investors may not arrive in time. Saab paid salaries about a week late in June and July.

The Swedish debt agency said Friday that it has found 5.1 million Swedish kronor ($796,291) so far in its probe of assets belonging to the troubled Swedish car maker Saab Automobile AB, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The firm, owned by Netherlands-listed Swedish Automobile NV, has struggled with its finances for months and failure to pay suppliers has left it without the components it needs to produce its cars.

Sweden's debt enforcement agency is preparing to seize assets of troubled car maker Saab in an attempt to recover at least 4 million Swedish crowns ($625,000) owed to parts suppliers, Reuters reported. "We have contacted Saab's banks," Hans Ryberg, an official at the Swedish Enforcement Authority said on Wednesday. The agency can now seize assets, including any cash in Saab's bank accounts.

Some European suppliers are preparing to demand cash-strapped Swedish Automobile be declared bankrupt, hoping the threat will pressure the carmaker into paying debts, an auto industry group said on Wednesday. Car production at Saab, rescued from bankruptcy in early 2010 by Netherlands-based Swedish Automobile, ground to a standstill in April because suppliers who had not been paid refused to deliver components. Lars Holmqvist, head of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, told Reuters that Spanish auto panels maker Matrici S.

Saab staved off a fresh bankruptcy threat on Friday by finding the money to pay its workers, but its car production lines remained silent and its long-term funding issues unresolved, Reuters reported. Fears over the survival of the 60-year-old firm, rescued from closure early last year, have ebbed and flowed as owner Swedish Automobile chases funding. Its production line has been closed since late April. On Friday the company paid a delayed July salary to its 1,600 whitecollar workers, almost half the workforce. This stopped unions from pursuing a bankruptcy application.

Shares in Swedish Automobile NV soared more than 40% Thursday, following a report in Swedish media that the company's Saab Automobile unit is looking to close a long-term funding deal with a U.S. investor, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Saab Automobile's chief executive and major shareholder, Victor Muller, declined to comment on the reports. Read more.