Sweden's bankrupt Saab finds buyer

A buyer for bankrupt Swedish automaker Saab has been found, the adminstrators said Wednesday, without naming the company involved. The administrators said they would hold a press conference at 1100 GGMT at Saab headquarters in Trollhatten, southern Sweden, to disclose details of the deal. Earlier this month, a group of Chinese and Japanese investors said they submitted an offer for Saab in April, before the deadline for bids expired. National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS), a Swedish-registered company founded by a Hong Kong-based company specialising in alternative energy and a Japanese investment fund, declined to disclose the amount of the offer. Chinese carmaker Youngman was also known to be interested in buying Saab. Swedish media have reported that Youngman placed a preliminary bid in late January or early February of about two billion kronor (220 million euros, $280 million). Youngman has long been interested in Saab and tried to snap it up before it declared bankruptcy but those efforts were thwarted by the Saab's former owner, General Motors, which balked at transferring the necessary technology licences. Reports have also surfaced that Indian commercial utility vehicles manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra has placed a bid as well. Saab was on the brink of bankruptcy when GM sold it in early 2010 to Dutch company Swedish Automobile (SWAN) -- at the time called Spyker -- for $400 million.