Dateline Amsterdam: Saab Owner Spyker Sues General Motors With A Big Help From A "Friend"

By Henny Hemmes
Senior European Editor
The Auto Channel

AMSTERDAM, August 6, 2012; Hot news here in The Netherlands: Spyker the owner of Saab Automobile, that went bankrupt in December 2011, will sue General Motors for 3 billion dollars.

Spyker announced today that it will do so on behalf of Saab, claiming that GM deliberately drove the Swedish brand into bankruptcy by blocking attempts of Spyker’s CEO (and former Saab CEO) Victor Muller to save Saab. Muller had found a possible investor in the Chinese investment company Youngman, but General Motors vetoed the deal because it did ‘not want the Chinese to lay hands on GM technology’.

In The Netherlands, where many people hoped Saab would survive and praised the efforts of Muller, the GM statement was found ridiculous, as GM nor its European daughter Opel are regarded as a high-tech car manufacturer. Since Opel is in a bad shape, as well as its sister brand Vauxhall, General Motors has not much credit in the public opinion. In this country, Opel has been the number one brand for 37 years (!) until it was beaten by VW in 2005. With a dated model line and a loss of 1.4 billion euro in 2010, it only went down wards with the brand that had more than 37 per cent market share here.

The claim of Spyker focuses on ‘unlawful actions by GM, to prevent competition by a new owner of Saab on the Chinese market. Spyker states that “GM’s action had the direct and intended objective of driving Saab into bankruptcy.” Muller said that GM strongly interfered in concluding a transaction between Spyker, Saab and Youngman. Spyker claims an amount of 3 billion dollar by the complaint that was filed in the US District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan. The lawsuit seeks justice for unlawful actions.

Since Saab cannot contribute to the cost of the lawsuit, Spyker will fully finance the lawsuit. This happens in exchange for a substantial part (90%) of compensation for Saab-if the case is won. Spyker can do so thanks to a ' third party ', which will give financial support as long as the lawsuit runs. CEO Victor Muller has no idea how long the case will last and did not want to say who the supporting partner is. "He wants to remain anonymous but it is in any case not Antonov."

Early 2011, Vladimir Antonov, the Russian banker, was forced by GM to sell his initial shares in Spyker in order to become a major share holder in Saab. But by the end of July, the European Investment Bank confirmed that a loan to Saab would only be made if Antonov would not be given the opportunity to take ownership in Saab, as there were rumors of ties to organized crime. Earlier Antonov was approved as investor by the Swedish National Debt Office.

Victor Muller: "Since we are in a forced bankruptcy from December last year, we have worked with great perseverance preparing this claim, that aims at a compensation for Saab and Spyker for the huge damage caused by unlawful actions of GM. "

He also said to expect the Chinese Youngman to be sympathetic to the claim, because Youngman lost 55 million euro in the takeover attempt. In Sweden there still is a claim against ' curator ' Guy Lofalk, who charged 1.2 million euro for his work.