Sweden to Take Control of Saab Auto Parts Unit

Sweden's National Debt Office, which is the largest bankruptcy creditor of Saab Automobile, says the country's finance ministry will assume ownership of the carmaker's auto parts unit within a few weeks.

The automaker pledged the replacement parts unit as collateral when Sweden guaranteed the European Investment Bank's €248 million loan to Saab in October 2009.

Saab entered court administration in December 2011 with assets worth less than one-third of its 13 billion-krona debt (€1.5 billion). Sweden repaid the EIB loan in January and said in June it expected to take ownership of the collateral.

The parts unit was not part of the sale of Saab's major assets in September to National Electric Vehicle Sweden, a Chinese-Japanese consortium that aims to revive the company as a producer of EVs. NEVS said last month it might relaunch the Saab brand by next autumn with a gasoline-powered version of current-generation 9-3 sedan, followed by an electric variant in 2014.