India's Mahindra & Mahindra Seeks Stake in Saab Auto

By Christina Zander 

STOCKHOLM--India's Mahindra & Mahindra plans to take a stake in the company behind Sweden's Saab Automobile brand, according to documents filed to a local Swedish court.

National ElectricVehicle Sweden AB, or NEVS, as the Swedish company is called, bought Saab Automobile out of bankruptcy in 2012, but has since then run into financial difficulties of its own.

In a document filed to the court by one of the creditors of NEVS--a British consultant--Mahindra & Mahindra is named as the auto maker about to take a stake in the Swedish company. When NEVS bought Saab Automobile out of bankruptcy in 2012, Mahindra & Mahindra was said to have been one of the interested parties in the negotiations that preceded the deal.

NEVS declined to comment on the information, referring to a confidentiality agreement between the negotiating parties. Last week, NEVS petitioned a local Swedish court to extend a period of creditor protection, granted earlier this year, saying that talks with potential investors were close to completion.

In its filing to court, NEVS said it is in negotiations with an Asian original equipment maker, or OEM, which plans to step in as majority owner in the company.

NEVS has tried to revive Saab for more than two years. Sold by General Motors Co. to Netherlands-based Spyker NV as part of GM's bankruptcy proceedings, Saab Automobile has been in and out of bankruptcy protection and produced very few vehicles in recent years.

NEVS restarted production of the Saab 9-3 sedan on Sweden's west coast late last year and had plans to build an electric car in China starting this year. The plan was to eventually produce a line of cars built off the so-called Phoenix platform, a vehicle architecture developed by GM that was never fully deployed.

Write to Christina Zander at [e-mail]

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