Academic

Is National Security the Reason for the Delay in Saab-Spyker?

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

GM has an asset, Saab, that it values at zero or less.  And it also has a suitor for the company, Spyker, which is owned by a shadowy Russian bank.  The CEO of GM appears to believe that it shouldn't be too hard to sell Saab:

So why doesn't Spyker have it?  The simplest, and accordingly probably most likely correct theory would be that Spyker wants GM to assume some of Saab's obligations, and GM views the offer as one that would cost it more money than shuttering the unit.  But another possibility is that the government has done the sort of informal weighing in that it occasionally, but rarely, does, when foreign companies seek to purchase assets with implications for American national security.  Although Saab makes its cars overseas, it also made fighter jets for years, and it is owned by an American company that has to hew to government instruction.

So count that as your unfounded rumor of the day.  Saab isn't yet sold because of CFIUS.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on January 25, 2010 (boomark / email).