Dutch sportscar maker Spyker has made an eleventh hour updated bid for General Motors’ Swedish unit Saab before the expiry of an extended deadline to save it from closure, Spyker’s chief said yesterday.
“Spyker Cars today has made a revised offer to General Motors [GM] for the acquisition of Saab Automobile A.B.,” Victor Muller said in a statement.
GM extended a deadline to consider offers for Saab last month after Spyker approached the US automaker with a last ditch proposal.
“We have continued a constructive dialogue with GM over the acquisition of Saab,” Muller said. “We believe the Saab brand has lots of potential and would be keen to close a deal as quickly as possible.”
On Thursday he said: “It is the same offer we made during the weekend of December 20, but it is being completely refined following discussions” in recent weeks.
Muller did not give any details.
Spyker renewed its initial offer on Dec. 20, two days after GM announced it would close Saab, which employs 3,400 people in Sweden, by the end of the year.
Swedish press reports have said that GM agreed to re-open negotiations after the withdrawal of two of Spyker’s Russian investors. GM was reportedly concerned about the possible transfer of technical know-how to Russia.
GM had set a Thursday deadline for final offers.
Muller said he did not know whether there were any other bidders.
On Wednesday, GM chief executive officer Ed Whitacre said he was “not confident” of a last-minute deal to save Saab, which has barely turned a profit in two decades under GM management.
British media reports yesterday said Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone had teamed up with a Luxembourg investment firm to launch a last-minute rescue bid for Saab.
Luxembourg-based Genii Capital announced it was interested in making an offer with Ecclestone, just as the deadline for final bids for Saab expired on Thursday, the BBC reported.
The privately held firm said it would “aggressively work towards a successful closing of the transaction with all the relevant stakeholders of the company,” the BBC reported.
Genii said it believes Saab has “tremendous brand value in a number of key automotive markets, as well as an innovative image,” the reports said.
Genii already has links with Ecclestone after it last month bought a stake in the Renault Formula One team, allowing the team to remain in the sport.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique