SAAB Abandoned By GM, Files Bankruptcy.

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FRANKFURT — Saab, the Swedish maker of road-hugging sports cars and sedans, filed for bankruptcy on Friday as part of sweeping restructuring plan by its parent, the General Motors Corporation.

Saab, which G.M. said would become an independent business by 2010, went to a Swedish court for protection from its creditors, and said the company would — with assistance from the Swedish government — reorganize to pave the way for private investors to buy all or part of it.

Saab’s application for bankruptcy was later approved by the Swedish courts.

“We explored and will continue to explore all available options for funding and/or selling Saab, and it was determined a formal reorganization would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready for investment,” the managing director of Saab, Jan-Ake Jonsson, said in a statement.

Saab also said that the company “would continue to operate as usual.”

But in the hours after the filing, it was unclear whether the Swedish government would support the company, with government officials seeming to rule out financial assistance as part of what Saab said would be a three-month process of retrenchment.

“Support in the form of money is not on the agenda,” a spokesman for the industry ministry, Hakan Lind said, according to Reuters.

Saab lost about 3 billion Swedish crowns or $343 million in 2008 and said it would lose a similar amount this year. But the immediate cause of the filing was G.M., which decided to shed the Saab brand, as part of are structuring that will see massive job cuts and closure of several brands in exchange for access to government cash.

G.M. acquired a majority of Saab in 1990 and bought up the rest a decade later. But the company has been dogged by losses, despite widespread acclaim for its products.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/bu...ss/21saab.html