Saab gets official approval to sell property

The Swedish government on Wednesday gave the green light for troubled automaker Saab to sell its real estate and lease it back, handing it the last approval needed to sell its plant and get access to much needed cash. Saab welcomed the deal and said in a statement it planned to restart its production, which has been repeatedly stalled since April and last stopped on June 8, on August 9. The enterprise and energy ministry said in a statement that "with the release of state guarantees, Saab Automobile has the possibility of closing the sale of part of its plant." Sweden has a say in Saab's real estate sale because it guaranteed a 400-million-euro ($572-dollar) loan the European Investment Bank (EIB) made to Saab. The country's National Debt Office and the EIB also had to approve the deal and did so recently. The Dutch owner of Saab, Swedish Automobile -- formerly known as Spyker -- said last month it has reached a 28-million-euro ($40 million) deal to sell and lease back 50.1 percent of its real estate. The transaction regards Saab's plant in the southwestern Swedish town of Trollheattan, which consists of 483,000 square meters (over 5.0 million square feet) building space. The buyer is a consortium led by Swedish group Hemfosa Fastigheter. Saab was rescued at the last minute in 2010 when auto industry minnow Spyker bought the brand from US auto giant General Motors for $400 million. In its 20 years as a GM brand, Saab never turned a profit. The new owner had big ambitions for Saab but the carmaker has since then lurched from one cash crisis to another. It announced earlier last month tie-ups with Chinese car distributor Pang Da and manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile which would see them take a majority stake in Saab.