Ecclestone and Genii Capital Want to Buy Saab

We know our colleagues from Industry News have kept you updated on the “GM Selling or Not Selling Saab” saga in recent weeks, but it has now surfaced in the media that some of the highly ranked figures of Formula One are also considering buying the Swedish marque from GM. According to financial news service Bloomberg, it is the very owner of F1 Bernie Ecclestone who confirmed his interest for buying the aforementioned car company.

However, the 79-year old Englishman is not alone in his bid for purchasing Saab. The interesting news is that he will line up alongside Luxembourg investment firm Genii Capital in this joint bid. Most of you already know by now that Genii Capital is the new majority stake owner of Renault F1 Team, and is headed by well-known businessman Gerard Lopez.

“It's a good brand that has probably been neglected by the current owners. We don't own it yet, so let's see what happens,” said Ecclestone, according to the aforementioned source. In addition, Genii Capital also confirmed via a statement that they are officially in the race for buying the Swedish brand.

A meeting within the GM board of directors is set to take place on Friday, to discuss the sellout of Saab to one of the three current bidders. Besides Ecclestone & Lopez' efforts, Dutch sports car maker Spyker and a third unknown bidder also announced their interest in buying Saab. While several media suggested that a 4th option still remains for GM to completely scrap Saab off the automakers map – although that would make little sense, economically speaking – a statement from the American company confirmed it is looking for offers.

“GM continues to receive and evaluate proposals for Saab. We consider any discussions to be confidential, and we won't discuss any details until a decision is reached,” said a recent statement from GM.