Important milestone achieved in China process
Today, the PDRC, the provincial equivalent of the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) approved the deal between Saab, Pang Da and Youngman. The decision is an important step in the process of getting NDRC’s approval.
There are three levels of this authority:
?DRC – the local authority, which has already given its approval
?PDRC – the provincial authority, which thus gave its approval today
?NDRC – the National Authority
We have passed two of the three levels, and will now proceed to the NDRC.
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A summary of the events of recent days
?Wednesday, September 7th Saab Automobile applied for voluntary reorganization in Vänersborg.
?The scope of the application included Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB. Other units, including Saab Parts and foreign subsidiaries (including Saab Great Britian and Saab Cars North America), were excluded.
?Thursday, September 8 it was announced in Vänersborg that the court rejected the Saab reorganisation application.
?The same day, Saab announced its intention to appeal this decision, because it disagreed with how the court interprets the law and its application.
?The appeal was submitted to the District Court on Monday 12 September.
?The new documentation, among other things, included a number of improvements implemented since the first reconstruction in 2009
?Letters from Pang Da and Youngman were included, thatclarify their commitment to Saab, and also to state that they have no reason to believe that the approval process with the Chinese authorities would not be completed or that there will be unexpected delays.
?As part of the reorganisation application, Saab also added information about a new contract that guarantees a so-called “bridge loan” of 70 million euros, roughly equivalent to 622 million SEK.
?Monday 12 September, two Unions filed for bankruptcy for Saab.
?According to information, it may take at least a few weeks for the court to consider this petition, which is a separate process from Saab’s reorganisation application, which is to be decided immediately.
?Both the leaders of the Unions have signaled that they contribute to the stay of bankruptcy if the Court of Appeal will take time to deal with reorganisation application.
What happens next?
?District Court will now send the appeal to the Court of Appeal. It is the district court’s duty to do so promptly. They have chosen to do so by postal mail, which means that the appeal reaches reach the Court of Appeal on Wednesday 14 September.
?The Court of Appeal first has to permit an appeal, that is, decide whether to reconsider the matter. It is the first time they have to consider a case of this kind and it is difficult to estimate how long it will take. It is estimated that it will take between one and a couple of days. After a decision to permit the appeal, it should be dealt with immediately in accordance with the law.
?It is in any case, likely that Saab’s appeal to the Court of Appeal will be dealt with more quickly than the unions’ petition to the district court