STOCKHOLM -- The administrator in charge of Saab's restructuring under court protection could pull the plug on the process, a Swedish daily newspaper reported.
Saab is running out of cash and has still not received a bridge loan of 70 million euros ($96 million) that was secured by Chinese car company Youngman, money that is key to its short-term survival.
Svenska Dagbladet said on Tuesday that negotiations were ongoing with Youngman, but the court-appointed administrator could decide to ask a court to end Saab's period of protection from creditors.
Swedish news agency TT said the ending of the creditor protection process and possible bankruptcy was one of the options being considered at talks in Stockholm but that there were other alternatives.
The administrator, Guy Lofalk, could not immediately be reached for comment.
If the restructuring process looks unlikely to succeed, Saab's creditors, the administrator or Saab itself could ask for creditor protection to be withdrawn, Cecilia Tisell, a judge at the local court, told Reuters.
She said the court had not received any request of that kind. "No, we have not heard anything like that at all from the Saab companies or Guy Lofalk," she said.
Saab CEO Victor Muller told Reuters in a phone text message: "Things are moving along fine and we do not intend to request the replacement of Mr. Lofalk as administrator."
Swedish media have reported tensions between Lofalk and Saab after Lofalk reportedly raised the idea that the government should take over Saab's debt to the European Investment Bank in return for shares in the carmaker, which it would then sell to a Chinese car producer.
Any decision to end the reconstruction process would be Lofalk's, Muller added.
Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs said the carmaker still expected to get the bridge loan. "We are still expecting the Youngman loan to come in," Gustavs said.
She had no comment on when the money was expected or how long Saab could last without the cash.
