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Trollhattan, Sweden (AHN) – Saab owner Spyker Cars on Tuesday announced that it had secured an investment from a little known Chinese company, allowing it to resume production at its Saab plant.

The Dutch automaker will receive euros 120 million ($222 million) from the Hawtai Motor Group in return for a 30 percent equity stake in

Spyker. It will also get euros 30 million under a convertible loan agreement with an annual interest rate of 7 percent and a six month maturity.

The transaction, which still needs the approval of the Chinese and European regulators, adds to the other short-term funding Spyker obtained from other sources. The automaker entered into another euros 30 million convertible loan agreement with Bahamas-based Gemini Investment Fund Limited. It plans to make a euros 29.1 million drawdown request to the European Investment Bank.

Spyker is still working to sell Saab property in Sweden, a transaction that must meet requirements set by the European Investment Bank and the Swedish National Debt Office.

The loans and medium-term financing from Hawtai will let Spyker restart production at its factory in Sweden, where assembly lines were stopped last month after suppliers stopped deliveries due to unpaid bills. In addition, the investment from Beijing-based Hawtai gives Spyker access to the Chinese market.

“We expect that Saab’s unique brand values based on its aviation heritage, Scandinavian origins and innovation-driven character will do very well in the Chinese market,” Victor Muller, chief executive of Spyker and chair of Saab, said in a statement.

Saab Automobile was a unit of Swedish aircraft maker Saab before it was owned by General Motors, which sold the brand to Spyker last year.

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