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Saab may yet emerge from bankruptcy

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Shares of Saab car manufacturer Swedish Automobile jumped 13 percent in Amsterdam early Friday after reports that the bankrupt company may be bought.

Bloomberg News reported that, “Mahindra, based in Mumbai, is in the process of trying to set up meetings with the two court-appointed administrators — who are overseeing Saab’s bankruptcy — to possibly buy parts of the carmaker or the whole company.”

The company has also attracted interest from the Turkish government, MarketWatch reported, citing an Auto Motor und Sport preview of an article to be published on Jan. 4, 2012.

“Quoting people from Saab management, the magazine reports Chief Executive Victor Muller initiated talks with Turkey in order to possibly allow the ailing company to continue production.”

According to MarketWatch, “So far, Turkey has no independent car manufacturer, but the country is already an important manufacturing base for companies such as Ford, Fiat SpA , and Renault SA.”

Saab and the bankruptcy administrator declined to comment to either Bloomberg or MarketWatch on the potential for a last minute deal.

The 62-year old, iconic Swedish car brand ceased production in March 2011 and filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 19 after failing to keep up payments to suppliers.

General Motors sold the Trollhaettan, Sweden-based company in February 2010 to Dutch sports-car maker Spyker Cars NV (SWAN), which later changed its name to Swedish Automobile NV,” according to Bloomberg.

Kells Hetherington