Volvo Part-Owner of New Saab?

Here are some crazy facts: Volvo, who's now struggling to stay on the floating line and fine itself a new buyer, might take a share in Saab, the company which is also fighting for survival in the same difficult Swedish auto sector. The catch? Koenigsegg is currently seen as the favorite to take over Saab, with some media reports even hinting the luxury sports car manufacturer has already sealed a deal. In case the deal goes through, Volvo might become a part-owner of Saab through a small ownership stake in... Koenigsegg.

That's right, it appears Volvo holds a minor stake in Koenigsegg, which obviously means it would become a part owner of its local rival in case the acquisition is indeed finalized.

The news was revealed by business daily Dagens Industry which revealed that Volvo received a stake in Koenigsegg in early 2000 after the sports carmaker used Volvo's wind tunnel to perform a series of tests. In exchange for using its facilities, Volvo received 3,750 stocks in Koenigsegg, which are currently worth about 8,000 kronor (€760).

A Volvo spokesman denied the report, saying that he's not aware of such a thing. “I don’t know of any holdings [in Koenigsegg] and I haven’t been able to find any information”, Volvos spokesperson Stefan Elfström was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

Koenigsegg, which was officially founded in 1994, is 49 percent owned by Norwegian Bård Eker, through the holding group called Eker Group. Overall, there are 111 owners of Koenigsegg, including founder Christian von Koenigsegg.

Separately, Volvo is currently in talks with a number of parties that could take the majority stake, but neither Ford nor the Swedish manufacturer have revealed their identities so far.