Another Chinese white knight knocked from the saddle?
Alas, struggling Saab Automobile has been left standing at the altar by its Chinese white knight.
The deal struck last week for tiny Beijing-based Hawtai Motor to inject Euro150 million (HK$1.66 billion) into the Swedish carmaker, which has halted production since March 29 after running out of funds to pay its suppliers, was 'terminated' just nine days after it was signed.
'It became clear that Hawtai was not able to obtain all the necessary consents,' Saab said. Both companies will continue talking about other forms of co-operation, said Saab's Dutch owner, Spyker Cars, which bought Saab from a bankrupt General Motors (GM) in January last year.
The collapse of the deal means Saab still needs significant funds to get back into business, and Hawtai will remain anything but a household name. In the three years since the outbreak of the financial crisis, the world has seen no shortage of well-known companies and brands falling on hard times. But China is full of rapidly growing firms with global ambitions but which lack the know-how or name recognition that it takes to make it overseas.
Putting two and two together should be a recipe for a global M&A boom that should yield some fantastic failures, but also strong, global Chinese corporate champions.