Saab parent company to sell Spyker luxury brand to U.S. firm

Saab parent company Swedish Automobile plans to sell its Spyker luxury-sports-car brand to U.S. private-equity firm North Street Capital for about $44 million.

Spyker has been careful to point out to European news sources that the agreement has not been made final.

Swedish Automobile had originally signed a deal with British company CPP Global in February to sell Spyker, but the agreement fell through in June.

If the sale to North Street Capital goes through, Swedish Automobile said it will pay debt owed to Tenaci, the private-investment company owned by Saab CEO Victor Muller.

Cash-strapped Swedish Automobile has been struggling for months to avoid bankruptcy. Last week, Saab won Swedish court protection from creditors while it waits on funding from Chinese investors to resume production in Sweden.

Meanwhile, future development for the Spyker brand will fall into the hands of racing enthusiast Alex Mascioli, a managing partner at North Street Capital. He has raced cars all of his life and apparently has the resources to take a long-term view on the luxury brand.

Only a handful of Spyker cars are produced each year–usually priced in excess of $100,000. You've seen the cars in movies such as The Pink Panther and Basic Instinct 2. AutoWeek