Court approves Spyker deal with creditors, gives car maker a lifeline

With reporting by Zack Newmark. The Midden-Nederland court approved an agreement between Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker and its creditors on Thursday, reports Omroep Flevoland. The financially-strapped car company is primed to exit administration, unless an appeal against the decision of the court is filed. If the company went from administration into bankruptcy, the creditors would likely receive next to nothing after the liquidation of assets. Now the creditors will recoup at least part of their investment, expected to be roughly 100 percent of the first 12 thousand euros owed, and ten percent of anything over that amount. The decision on Spyker's bankruptcy was earlier overturned on appeal by the court in Leeuwarden after company leader Victor Muller convinced an investor to contribute 4.3 million euros, budgeted solely to reduce Spyker's outstanding debt. The total debt of the company amounts to 44 million euros. Financial trouble for Spyker began after the firm leveraged its assets, and linked up with Russian-British banker Vladimir Antonov to purchase Saab from GM in 2010. Saab was nearly defunct at the time, and GM was ready to pull the plug on the Swedish brand. The sale was approved, on condition that GM retained the right to block investment into Saab that could threaten the American automaker's intellectual property. Saab vehicles were still built using GM platforms and technology at the time. GM ultimately blocked several opportunities to sell off part of Saab to Chinese investors, and Saab went into bankruptcy with debts of nearly two billion US dollars, but only 500 million dollars in assets.