--Spyker claims GM drove Saab Automobile in bankruptcy
--Cites GM decision to block sale of Saab Automobile to Chinese
investors
--Saab Automobile left behind $2 billion in debt
--Bulk of Saab Automobile assets since sold to electric-vehicle
consortium
(Updates with comment from GM in the seventh paragraph)
By Katarina Gustafsson
STOCKHOLM--Spyker NV (SPYKR.AE), the owner of Swedish car maker
Saab Automobile AB before its financial collapse late last year,
said Monday it has filed a $3 billion lawsuit against General
Motors Co. (GM) claiming the U.S. car giant drove the Swedish
company into bankruptcy.
Spyker filed the claim in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern
District of Michigan.
Saab Automobile declared itself bankrupt last December, ending a
long struggle for survival by the sub-scale auto maker after
attempts by Spyker to revive and then sell the company failed. Saab
Automobile left behind debts of $2 billion backed by assets of just
$500 million.
Saab Automobile's former owner General Motors, which had sold
the auto maker to Netherlands-based Spyker in an earlier rescue in
2010, objected to deals with potential Chinese investors, worried
they would have access to GM technology and compete against the
U.S. auto maker in China, one of its most important foreign
markets.
"This lawsuit seeks redress for the unlawful actions GM took to
avoid competition with Saab Automobile in the Chinese market,"
Spyker said in a statement.
"GM's actions had the direct and intended objective of driving
Saab Automobile into bankruptcy, a result of GM's tortuously
interfering with a transaction between Saab Automobile, Spyker and
Chinese investor Youngman that would have permitted Saab Automobile
to restructure and remain a solvent, going concern," Spyker
said.
GM spokesman Jim Cain said the company "will review the lawsuit
and respond in due course."
Spyker filed the complaint in its own right and on behalf of
Saab Automobile AB. Since the Swedish car maker is in receivership,
Spyker and Saab have entered into a deal where Spyker will bear the
costs of litigation "in exchange for a very substantial share of
Saab Automobile's award when the proceedings are successful."
"Ever since we were forced to file for Saab Automobile's
bankruptcy in December of last year, we have worked relentlessly on
the preparation for this lawsuit which seeks to compensate Spyker
and Saab for the massive damages we have incurred as a result of
GM's unlawful actions, Victor R. Muller, Spyker's Chief Executive
Officer said. Mr. Muller was formerly CEO of Saab Automobile.
In April, Saab Automobile's liquidators sold the bulk of the
assets of the bankrupt Swedish company to a Chinese-Japanese backed
electric vehicles start-up called National Electric Vehicle Sweden
AB, or NEVS.
NEVS is 51% owned by Hong Kong-based National Modern Energy
Holdings Ltd., a developer of alternative-energy plants in China,
and 49% by Sun Investment LLC, a Japanese investment firm. They aim
to develop premium electric vehicles for the Chinese market.
Write to Katarina Gustafsson at
katarina.gustafsson@dowjones.com; Twitter: @DowJonesNordics
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