Spyker ready to sell its sports car business and focus more on Saab
By Andrew, 24 Feb, 2011. 0 Comments
Spyker C8 Aileron
We have bad news for all of you folks who love the well-known Spyker sports cars… no, the brand will not die, but Spyker Cars announced today that it is negotiating to sell its business t a company which is controlled by Russian billionaire Vladimir Antonov. As you may know already, Spyker bought Saab a year ago (celebrating freedom of the brand with the 2011 Saab 9-3 Independence Edition) and said it has signed a memorandum of understanding to sell Spyker's assets to UK holding company CPP Global Holdings, owned by Antonov.
According to sources, the sale of Spyker could raise 32 million euros ($44 million) and will help the Dutch company to reduce borrowings to 25 million euros, from 92 million euros now. That excludes debt owed by Saab itself. Same sources confirm the fact that Victor Muller took this decision to sell Spyker in order to "spread its wings without being restricted by the capital structure" of the listed parent.
"Spyker's (luxury car business) is a small fish in a large pond. Spyker would need additional funds, but to issue shares and dilute shareholders seemed like a very bad plan so we decided to divest these activities," Muller told reporters in a conference call. [via autonews - sub. required]
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