Sweden

Sweden's Vastra Gotaland region said Saab, owned by Dutch group Spyker, must pay its $15 million bill from the government by Sept. 20 or it will ask the public debt collector to enforce payment, Reuters reported. The bill is from a period when Saab Automobile was under administration and the government of Vastra Gotaland in western Sweden, home to Saab's main production plant, stepped in to cover wages. Vastra Gotaland Governor Lars Backstrom said on Monday that Saab owed it 110.7 million crowns ($15.3 million).

Swedish investment bank HQ, which was closed by authorities at the weekend for breaking risk rules, said it would unveil a deal on Thursday amid frantic efforts to find a buyer for the niche bank. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) stripped HQ of its licence after the watchdog found it broke banking and risk regulations at its trading operation, which was shut down by HQ in June. "HQ Bank is planning a news conference on Thursday to present the details of an agreement," the bank said in a short statement.

Swedish investment bank HQ AB said it is entering liquidation after its license was revoked over the weekend, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The Swedish financial-supervisory authority, Finansinspektionen, Saturday pulled the bank's license, citing violation of both Swedish accounting and capital-requirement regulations. The regulator said HQ had overvalued its trading portfolio and inaccurately reported its financial position, believing a correct valuation would have shown that the bank has been undercapitalized since December 2008.

Swedish network equipment vendor L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. has purchased Nortel Networks Corp.'s controlling stake in a South Korean joint venture for $242 million in cash, a move that should help boost its footprint in the Asian country, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Ericsson said Wednesday that it has bought Nortel's 50% plus one share stake in its joint venture with LG Electronics Inc., LG-Nortel. LG-Nortel will be renamed LG-Ericsson and will continue to have its headquarters in Seoul.

France has proven surprisingly stable in the European economic storm. As Greece struggles to avoid default or bailout, Spain and Portugal watch anxiously, Sweden falls back into recession, Germany argues about historically high budget deficits and Britain grapples with deficits and debt of Hellenic proportions, France looks solid and even wise to many, The New York Times reported.

The prospect of an EU intervention in the Greek economy drew a step closer when European finance ministers endorsed a 28-day deadline imposed on its government to show that its budget plan is yielding dividends, The Irish Times reported. With European Central Bank president Jean Claude-Trichet pushing hard for Athens to adopt new budget measures, finance ministers in the wider union backed demands from euro-area ministers for fresh cuts and taxes in four weeks if the current plan is shown to have misfired.

Allen & Overy (A&O) has taken a lead role as General Motors (GM) and Spyker reached an agreement for the purchase of Saab Automobile yesterday (26 January) after months of discussions, LegalWeek reported. The magic circle firm advised Spyker on the deal, which has been agreed at a cut-price value of $400 million (£247 million), but will see the small Dutch auto maker save the Saab brand from disappearing after GM announced plans to wind down operations late last year.

Icelandic pleas for further aid met with a cool response on Thursday as the IMF suggested its hands may be tied by an Anglo-Dutch debt impasse and Sweden signalled no immediate funds were on the way, Reuters reported. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said a solution for the so-called Icesave issue was not a condition for aid but the Fund still had to listen if members raised issues. "If a lot of members think we have to hold on, we have to hold on," Strauss-Kahn told journalists in Washington.

General Motors has extended a December 31 deadline for bids for its Swedish car brand Saab, which will restart some production lines in January after a shutdown, Saab said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. GM had given itself to the end of this month to consider bids for loss-making Saab while continuing a process to wind down the company, which has drawn interest from Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars and others.

Spyker Cars, the tiny Dutch automaker whose last-ditch bid for Saab was rejected Friday by General Motors, came back Sunday with a renewed offer for the struggling Swedish icon, which G.M. has said it plans to shut down, The New York Times reported. A spokesman for G.M. reacted cautiously to Spyker’s new offer, which many industry insiders consider a long shot. However, he said other potential buyers had expressed interest in Saab since Friday’s announcement.