Frankfurt - The sale of General Motors' (GM) European
subsidiary Opel to Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna is on track
for completion this month, the head of GM Europe said in a newspaper
interview to be published Sunday.
'It's only a matter of details now,' GM Europe's chief executive
Carl-Peter Forster told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(FAZ).
Forster was confident there had been broad agreement at a top-
level meeting between GM and Magna. He could not say when the
contracts would be signed but said, 'It would be great if this would
work by mid-July.'
The GM executive said the head of Magna, Siegfried Wolf, had been
applying pressure. 'That is a good thing,' Forster added.
Dieter Althaus, the State Premier of Thuringia where Opel has a
factory, reiterated that little stood in the way of the deal with
Magna and its partners, Russian state-owned Sherbank and carmaker
GAZ.
Magna planned to separate its car parts manufacturing business
from Opel, German news magazine Focus reported. This was to benefit
Opel competitors who bought car parts from the Canadian-Austrian
manufacturer.
Forster told FAZ that other Opel bidders had not proceeded as far
as Magna in their talks with GM, adding, 'Magna has a very clear
lead.' The question of accessing Opel's patents was largely resolved.
One open issue was the future setup of the Russian business,
Forster said. 'Who will be the local partner there? What will happen
to the GM factories there, and to the other GM brands present in
Russia?' the GM Europe chief asked.
Meanwhile, China's Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company
(BAIC) has reportedly sent letters to German government members, in a
last-minute attempt to convince them of their Opel bid, according to
FAZ.
The letter said BAIC would offer an 'excellent home' for Opel,
arguing that their proposal would cost German tax payers less than
Magna's offer.
BAIC's offer would come with a 660-million-euro (923-million-
dollar) sweetener and would require just 2.64 billion euros in German
state guarantees. Magna, on the other hand, has negotiated guarantees
to the tune of 4.5 billion euros.
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