CPP says it hasn’t given up on Spyker despite sale talks
A COVENTRY manufacturing group says it has not given up on its dream of acquiring the Spyker sports car business.
CPP Holdings had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Swedish Automobile in February to buy the Dutch-based Spyker brand in a deal understood to be worth around £27m.
However, the MoU lapsed in June and yesterday Swedish Automobile, owner of the struggling Saab car business, announced it was preparing to sell the sports car business to North Street Capital in a deal thought to be worth around £28.5m.
Brendan O’Toole, founder, managing director and co-owner of CPP, said: “Although (the) MoU lapsed in June, we have remained patient and discussions have continued. Until we are informed that that Swedish Automobile is no longer willing to discuss the Spyker sale, we are still keen to progress our proposed acquisition.”
If Spyker is acquired by another entity, CPP said it would continue to offer its support in future engineering programmes, body and chassis production, and final trim and assembly.
CPP had already begun pre-production of the new flagship Spyker C8 Aileron supercar and was recruiting skilled staff ready to start full-scale production.
CPP recently announced plans to consolidate its operations at an all-new plant at historic Browns Lane in Coventry, original home to Jaguar.
Mr O’Toole said whether or not CPP concluded its acquisition of Spyker or remained the production and assembly partner for Spyker under different ownership, CPP’s Browns Lane redevelopment plans will be unaffected.
The proposed new vehicle assembly facility – one of a number of CPP operations to be consolidated at the Browns Lane site from 2014 – will produce the fully-homologated road-going variant of the next generation all-terrain supercar, the Bowler EXR, and the recently-announced new Jensen Interceptor.
CPP is also in advanced stages of discussions regarding further ultra-low volume vehicle engineering and production projects.
Russian investor Vladimir Antonov, a passionate car enthusiast and chairman of Convers Group, is the major shareholder in CPP.
The proceeds from the sale of Spyker are likely to be used to pay off some of Swedish Automobile’s debt to Tenaci, SA owner Victor Muller’s private investment company. Mr Muller has said Tenaci will then use the funds to repay a loan to Mr Antonov.
Mr Antonov has been mulling over taking a stake in Swedish Automobile and although finance is available, he needs the approval of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Swedish government and former Saab owner General Motors.
This is because the government has guaranteed a loan to Saab from the EIB and GM still has preference shares in Saab.
Mr Muller told Reuters the deal with CPP was still on the table but the next move lay with Mr Antonov.
“Antonov isn’t out of the game but he currently has a passive role because he has no choice. But as soon as the way is paved for his possible return it is up to him to make that choice. It’s his call,” Mr Muller told the news agency.
