The interview of Victor Muller, Saab’s Chairman and CEO, yesterday for the Swedish Radio answers some questions as well as bring a bit of the atmosphere of the last hours
You can listen to it here :
For those who cannot listen to it for whatever reason, below you will find the interview in text. Usable for Google Translator as well. It is a very slightly shortened :
SR : What do you say about this ?
VM : Well it's fantastic, because the future of the company is now secured.
SR : How does it feel for you, that you will no longer be the CEO of Saab ?
VM : I didn't wanted to be cEO of Saab in the first place. I only did this temporarily. So this will now be the way for new CEO, which we've been looking for for a qiet some time. This is very good news. We will have now the stability and the funding to execute our business plan and atract good people, such as a new CEO.
SR : How has the negotiation been ?
VM : Exhausted.
SR : When did you reached the agreement ?
VM : Late last night (from 27. to 28. October 2011).
SR : What is the agreement about ? The partners are buying 100% ?
VM : Yes.
SR : And for how much ?
VM : 100 million €
SR : Now you have been working for Saab for 2 years, now it is over, what do you say about that ?
VM : Well, it's not over. Now it's actually only just beginning. And I think that this will secure all the plans that we have made for the company will now be executed. So that is let's say the best achievement and I am extremely relieved that the period of uncertainty will come very soon to an end, we can pay our creditors, we can start our production, we can launch new models and we can expand to China as we have originally intended. So I think this is very good news for Trollhattan and very good news for Saab.
SR : Do you think the production will still remain in Trollhattan ?
VM : Of course.
SR : Do you think that GM will confirm the new deal and Saab can still produce the same cars as now ?
VM : This is up for the buyers and for GM to agree and I am pretty confident that this will be achieved.
SR : What will you do now ?
VM : Continue to run the company until the new CEO comes and than will definitely remain involved in the future
SR : So you think you will be involved in the future. Are you and the Chinese totaly stick to the agreement ?
VM : Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have signed it.
SR : You sound a little bit tired.
VM : That is very correct. I slept 3 hours in last 48 hours.
SR : What are your words to the employees at Saab now ?
VM : I would say, that our relentless efforts to secure the future of Saab are now starting to pay off and Saab will remain a car manufacturer in Sweden which will have a very bright future in China, the largest car market in the world. Our original intentions are to be fulfiled.
SR : When will the production start again ?
VM : It's way too early to say. On monday (31.October 2011) we have the creditors meeting, we will present our plans to the creditors. Certain conditions still have to be met such as the NDRC approval for this transaction, but we expect to have that very quick. Once the funding from Youngman and Pang Da starts to fly into the company, we can make a deal with all our suppliers. You would say, from that moment on 8 weeks. Following after the moment of full funding.
SR : How much money are the Chinese willing to invest in Saab ?
VM : More than a half a billion Euro overall.
SR : How much now they are planning to invest to make sure the reorganisation will be successful ?
VM : Exactly enough to make this happen. They have very deep pockets and they will make sure that everything we commit to will be execured.
SR : Are you happy now ?
VM : Tired and happy.
SR : Thank you very much Victor for this interview.
VM : My pleasure.
Sources : saabsunited.com, inside.saab.com, Swedish Radio
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