G.M. Hires AlixPartners to Wind Down Saab

Update | 2:28 p.m. A delegation from the Swedish government is heading to Detroit on Saturday to plead General Motors for Saab’s survival, The Financial Times reports. ““We still hope there is a chance of a deal but every day that passes makes it harder,” Joran Hagglund, Sweden’s state secretary for industry, told the newspaper, adding that he was surprised by G.M.’s hiring of AlixPartners.

General Motors took another step toward winding down its Saab brand by hiring the consulting firm AlixPartners to supervise the process, even as bidders are emerging for the Swedish marque.

G.M. said that it is asking the Swedish government to approve the appointment, which will not be affected by the company’s evaluation of bids from the likes of Dutch car maker Spyker Cars and British buyout firm Genii Capital.

“The use of a wind down supervisor is a commonly-used process in Sweden and works in the interest of the shareholder,” G.M. said in a statement.

Separately, Saab’s board has decided upon the carmaker’s liquidation, a representative of the IF Metall union told Agence France Presse. (The union has a seat on Saab’s board.)

G.M. decided to wind down Saab late last year after talks with Spyker collapsed, and this week its chief executive, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., said he was not hopeful a deal could be reached.

AlixPartners is no stranger to G.M.: it advised the car maker when it entered bankruptcy protection last summer. A top AlixPartners executive, Albert A. Koch, is supervising the dismantling of the G.M. operations that remain in Chapter 11 under the name Motors Liquidation Company.

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