Saab was declared bankrupt by a Swedish court in December after protracted rescue efforts by owner Swedish Automobile.

A key stumbling block was the refusal of former Saab owner General Motors to allow its technology, which underpins Saab cars, to fall into Youngman's hands.

Youngman remains interested and is prepared to make an offer, which one of the sources said would be worth several billion Swedish kronor.

A second source with knowledge of the process confirmed that a bid was likely next week.

Neither would say how Youngman would get around GM's objections. The lawyer representing Youngman has said that the company would seek to develop technology not controlled by GM.

Both sources said there were risks to a bid because receivers were preparing to sell parts of Saab's business to engineering firm Semcon. That would leave little for a buyer interested in continuing to build cars, the sources said.

"The big danger is that Saab and Semcon have agreed a deal with the receiver over large parts of Saab Automobile that would make it impossible for anyone to buy Saab as a whole," the second source said.

Neither the receivers nor Semcon were available for comment.

Last week, Saab's receivers put the Saab car museum up for sale to bring in cash to keep the company ticking until possible bids for the carmaker could be placed.

Another obstacle is that the receivers have yet to provide information about exactly what assets are for sale, the second source said. "You don't know if the brand rights are for sale ... if the technology is for sale. There is no information available," the source said.

GM has said it would be difficult to support a sale of Saab that hurts GM's position in China and other key markets.

Without GM's technology licenses and production contract, analysts have said, Saab would be unable to continue in its present form.

Saab's PhoeniX platform, expected to be the base of future models, relies very little on GM technology. But any buyer would have to invest heavily to complete the development of PhoeniX.

Any buyer would also have to get permission from defense and security company Saab AB and truckmaker Scania to use the Saab name, as they still own the rights to the brand.