Swedish News

Koenigsegg backs out of Saab deal. Marcus at the White House. The British star chef Gordon Ramsay on... schnapps. Brits want ABBA reunited. 

• Koenigsegg backs out of Saab deal.
  A group headed by Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg has broken off negotiations over the purchase of Saab Automobile, the prospective buyer has said. "We regret that, after six months of intensive and goal-oriented work, we have come to the painful and difficult conclusion that we are not going to be able to carry out the acquisition of Saab Automobile," said company chief Christian von Koenigsegg in a statement. The collapse leaves thousands of jobs in western Sweden at risk - as well as the 4,000 people employed at the plant, many thousands of people work at Saab's suppliers. Tens of thousands around the world are employed in Saab dealerships. Speaking to Swedish news agency TT, von Koenigsegg added that the deal had collapsed because it had taken too long to reach agreement: "The way things look right now, we cannot complete the deal. The timeframe is unpredictable, there are too many processes that need to fall into place in parallel. Time has dragged on and not everyone has kept up. We have a business plan, but when Saab is bleeding and can't develop during this period of waiting the financial implications and the results of the of the business plan are very unpredictable. We had set an absolutely final deadline of 30th November and we saw today that there was no hope of getting a deal together by then. And after that we dare not believe in the plan. Too much time has passed." Koenigsegg announced in September that it had teamed up with Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co Ltd (BAIC) to buy Saab from GM.

• Marcus at the White House.
  The other night when President Obama and the first lady had an important dinner with some 400 famous guests (among them Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) they needed something a bit special so who did they call? None other than our Swedish super chef Marcus Samuelsson of course! The dinner was Obama’s first formal thank you-dinner for those who supported his campaign last year. Exactly what Chef Samuelsson cooked up we don’t yet know, but we hear a curry dish was included on the menu. Samuelsson was earlier considered as Obama’s private chef at the White House but allegedly turned down the offer. “He didn’t want to be tied down,” a relative of Samuelsson’s explained.

• More chefs.
  The British star chef Gordon Ramsay visited Sweden recently and had one word to say about Swedish schnapps: “Ugh!” Ramsay, who’s been awarded a total of 16 Michelin stars, has actually lived in Sweden. “I moved to Sweden because I fell in love with a Swedish woman,” he says. She broke his heart and he went back to England. He retains his love for Swedish women, but schnapps is a no-no for the chef. “Drinking schnapps is like dipping your tongue into tabasco,” he says.

• Brits want ABBA reunited.
  Well, wouldn’t we all want to see ABBA reunited? The Swedish mega group’s four members went their separate ways in 1982 and so far have showed no signs of wanting to reunite. When the Brits were asked what group they most wanted to see reunited, the answer was clear: ABBA. After ABBA came The Police (and they were actually reunited not too long ago) and sharing the third spot were The Smiths and Pink Floyd.