Saab deal drives GM toward June loan deadline

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan: General Motors Co, by reaching a $500 million deal to sell its Saab division to Spyker Cars NV, has moved closer to fulfilling Chief Executive Officer Ed Whitacre's pledge to pay back government loans by June.

Saab may become the first brand GM sells since emerging from a US-backed bankruptcy on July 10. Arrangements to sell its Opel and Saturn units fell through, as did earlier negotiations over the Swedish brand. A definitive agreement with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co to buy Hummer is pending regulatory approval.

"It's a big accomplishment for them to be able to sell the brand," said Rebecca Lindland, director of automotive research at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. "It's symbolic from a standpoint of getting something accomplished, because the Saturn sale fell through, Koenigsegg walked away from Saab and they had to wind down Pontiac."