Tata Motors bids $350 mn for bankrupt Swedish car maker Saab: report

Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicles manufacturer and owner of British iconic car company Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has made a $350 million bid for bankrupt Swedish car maker Saab Automobile, The Financial Express today reported, citing sources.

Tata's global acquisition team is said to have been in talks with Saab and private equity firms for a prospective acquisition by UK-based JLR. The paper said Tata Motors refused to comment.

According to Saab and its administrator Hans Bergqvist, Swedish car maker had received at least five bids before yesterday's deadline and most of them were from outside of Sweden, said the report.

Saab filed for bankruptcy on 19 December after hopes of a life-saving funding from Chinese investors, including Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile, collapsed due to opposition from Detroit-based carmaker General Motors (GM), which holds a veto on any sale since it continues to own key patents used by Saab (See: China's Youngman to bid again for Saab: report).

The district court in Vanersborg, Sweden has appointed two receivers to either sell the company outright or break it up and sell it piecemeal. The proceeds would be used to repay Saab's creditors, which include GM.

Youngman, late last month, told Swedish broadcaster SVT that it has made a new 2 billion Swedish kronor ($300 million) offer to the bankruptcy administrators of Saab.