Spyker shareholders approve Saab takeover

"The proposal to acquire Saab was accepted by the vast majority" at an extraordinary shareholder meeting held in Zeewolde in the central Netherlands, Spyker chief executive Victor Muller told journalists via a webcast.

"Of the 8.4 million shares (from a total of 16 million) represented at the meeting, all of them voted in favour with the exception of 1,174 votes represented by the Association of Stock Owners, which abstained from voting."

Spyker and GM reached a deal last month for the sale of Saab for USD 74 million in cash and about USD 326 million worth of redeemable preferred shares to be retained by the American giant.

Saab's future had been in doubt throughout 2009 as GM, going through bankruptcy, radically restructured its business and tried to sell off what it saw as non-core and unprofitable assets.

Spyker, a minnow in the global auto industry, manufactured 21 cars in the first quarter of 2009 and sold 23 for prices starting at 199,990 euros. It has a workforce of about 90 assembly workers while Saab has 3,400 employees in Sweden alone.

Spyker said earlier this month that it intended for Saab to turn a profit by 2012, requiring an investment of about a billion dollars