Tuesday 26 January at 12:01 : Jan.26 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone and Genii Capital have pulled out of the running to buy the beleaguered Swedish carmaker Saab.

"Genii Capital believes that the timing of the next stage of the shutdown process at Saab is not compatible with its requirements for putting in place a solid business platform for the future and closing the transaction," the Luxembourg based company said in a statement.

It emerged earlier this month that the familiar F1 names were facing off with Spyker, the Dutch specialist sports car maker that competed in F1 in 2007, to buy the currently General Motors-owned Saab.

Genii, headed by Gerard Lopez, recently bought a controlling stake in Renault's formula one team. Ecclestone, the F1 chief executive, was a part of Genii's Saab-bidding consortium.