Rights to Saab Name May Be Final Hurdle to Buyout

The last remaining major obstacle to the sale of Saab Automobile to a Sino-Japanese consortium is obtaining rights to the Saab brand name and logo, says Bloomberg News.

The news service cites anonymous sources who say Saab's bankruptcy administrators are working to gain that permission from aircraft producer Saab AB and truckmaker Scania AB, which share ownership of the rights with the carmaker.

Saab AB tells Bloomberg it is talking to the bankruptcy administrators about how the Asian investment group would use the brand name. Scania says it is holding similar discussions directly with those investors but wouldn't say whether it has met with other bidders.

Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. renewed its offer for Saab last week despite repeated rejections. Beijing Automotive Industry Co. has expressed interest. A Turkish private equity group withdrew its bid for the Swedish company in February.

The Asian consortium is led by Japan's Sun Investment and Chinese utility company National Modern Energy Holdings. The group created National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB to acquire Saab's assets. Unconfirmed Swedish news reports last week said NEVS had reached a buyout deal.