Saab to sell Spyker to US firm for $43m

Parent company of struggling Swedish car maker Saab said on Thursday it reached a conditional agreement to sell its Spyker sports car business to US-based firm North Street for 32 million euros ($43 million). “Swedish Automobile NV (Swan) announces it has reached a conditional agreement with North Street Capital, about the main terms of the sale of the Spyker sports car business,” Swan said in a statement. The ailing company signed an original agreement in February with British holding company CPP Global for a sale of 15 million euros. But the deal fell through in June due to “legal disputes,” a Spyker spokesman Mike Stainton said. The agreement announced on Thursday “is not a final agreement” Stainton added, saying “if the conditions of this agreement are not met, CPP remains interested.” The sale’s net result will be used to pay the Swedish car maker’s creditors, said the statement. Spyker’s chief executive Victor Muller will remain in his position and the “continuity of Spyker’s relationships with all its stakeholders and clients is warranted,” it added. Dutch-based Spyker produces between 20 to 70 cars per year at an average price of 200,000 euros. It paid 400 million dollars in February 2010 to buy Saab from General Motors and has never made a profit since its creation in 2000. Swedish Automobile had earlier warned in a statement: “There can be no assurance that the negotiations can be completed successfully and that final agreement can be reached on the above or different terms.”