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Saab trustees declare multi-billion kronor debt

The Local/og
The Local/og - [email protected]
Saab trustees declare multi-billion kronor debt

Saab has announced official figures of their multi-billion kronor debt, as the struggling car manufacturer and its assets go under the hammer on Tuesday.

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Saab is in debt to the tune of 13 billion kronor ($1.92 billion), while the company's assets only total 3.6 billion kronor, according to the estate inventory submitted by trustees to Vänersborgs District Court on Tuesday.

The selling of Saab’s estate - the carmaker Saab and subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain and Saab Automobile Tools - will still leave the company in debt, however.

While the bankruptcy trustees’ reports are still unfinished, it is estimated that the final debt will be 9.4 billion kronor.

Sweden's National Debt Office (Riksgälden), which is owed 2.2 billion kronor by Saab for having guaranteed a loan from the European Investment Bank, is likely to get its money back, according to the trustees.

In addition to the debts detailed in Monday's filing, former Saab owner General Motors (GM) owns 2.2 billion kronor worth of preferred stock which can also be considered as a debt.

However, GM would only be able to collect on the sum if the bankruptcy ended up with a surplus, which administrators say won't happen.

The claims of 3,600 former Saab employees have contributed to the debt, in the form of salary guarantees totaling 513 million kronor.

During the bankruptcy and corporate reorganization, the Swedish state has paid out a total of 870 million kronor in salary guarantees.

According to Saab’s trustees, former employees should not expect to get any further compensation from the company, whereas staff from Powertrain, a Saab subsidiary, can expect some money.

The total liabilities related to Saab employees is estimated to be 1.4 billion kronor.

Former Saab CEO Victor Muller told news agency TT via text message that he has yet to review the trustee's estate inventory and refused to comment information about the company's assets and debts.

Monday is also the final day for interested buyers to submit their final offers for Saab's assets.

According to the news agency, there have been a handful of prospective buyers, including the Chinese Youngman firm and the Mahindra company from India.

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