Sub-Prime Mortgage Maven Mark Bishop Booted Out of Saab Buyout

Thor Johnsen
by Thor Johnsen

Swedish supercar builders Koenigsegg wants to “liberate” Saab from GM. To that end, Mr. Koenigsegg and his partner Bård Eker assembled a group of investors to back their play. Publicly, only one other name was attached to the Koenigsegg Group (KG) proposal: Mark Bishop. Bishop is an unlikely auto magnate; a publicity shy California wheeler-dealer with a dubious past in the sub-prime mortgage CDO re-bundling business. Bishop reportedly held a 22 percent stake in KG. No more. As TTAC predicted, the Swedes have shown Bishop the lucka.

Bishop’s exorcism began last Friday. A Swedish newspaper reported that the Koenigsegg-Saab deal was in danger; some of the KG investors wanted out. Allegedly, they were unhappy at the prospect of losing their silent partner status. The association with Bishop was, shall we say, unhelpful.

Come Monday, ams.se reported that Bishop was skål. According to Swedish carsite automotorsport.se, Bishop withdrew from KG due to “too much, and unwanted attention around his name.” It’s not known if he received any compensation for somehow insinuating himself into Sweden’s post-GM plans for Saab. And, boy, would we like to hear that story.

According to Saab and government spokesfolk, the deal carries on as planned. KG met with the government on Tuesday to “clear all questions” surrounding KG’s financing and future plans for the dead-in-the-water automaker. All sides are still shooting for a September closing date.

Mr. Bishop was unavailable for comment.

Thor Johnsen
Thor Johnsen

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  • Rod Panhard Rod Panhard on Aug 13, 2009

    She's hot. She's old enough to be my mom. And she kind of looks like my mom. And I ALWAYS wanted one of those Saabs....

  • Menno Menno on Aug 13, 2009

    I have to admit the (then) young lady has better styling than the Saab. Women generally had this lithe look until the late 1970's when "fat" started to pile onto both genders in Western nations. I blame concentrated corn syrup, since it was when this replaced cane sugar that the ballooning of the human race started. When I was a kid in the 1960's, even "fat" kids (who were mocked) were generally thinner than "average" kids now. Likewise, adults.

  • Andy D Andy D on Aug 13, 2009

    Circa 1960, Shaw Saab, located on the Back River, imported their cars directly from Saab and landed them on a dock in the defunct Hingham shipyard. That looks like a dock the car and young lady are on.

  • ZekeToronto ZekeToronto on Aug 13, 2009

    Stingray wrote: And at that time, that hotness was natural… not plastic. Certainly not plastic (or silicone) in 1961, but I wouldn't bet against a bit of wire (in the suit) ;-)

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