BERLIN — Germany’s finance minister said after a high-level meeting in Berlin that a plan was approved for Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. to move ahead with a rescue of General Motor Corp’s Opel unit.
Peer Steinbrueck said the agreement was reached early today after the second round of high-level talks in as many days.
"A solution has been found to keep Opel running,” Steinbrueck told reporters.
The agreement will see Adam Opel GmbH put under the care of a trustee today, shielding the German automaker from GM’s likely filing for bankruptcy protection early next week.
The German government will provide a $2.1 billion bridge loan, part of which will be available immediately.
Siegfried Wolf, a co-CEO of Magna, said he expected the agreements with GM would be signed in five weeks time, but insisted that the deal would prevent Opel from being touched by whatever happens to GM.
Friday, Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said that GM and Magna were negotiating on "new ideas” from the bidder, which also were being examined by the German government.
Wolf said his company had taken a risk in seeking to acquire the German automaker, but was eager to show it was committed to its future success.
The German government held the second round of top-level negotiations after talks snagged Thursday over new short-term funding needed to move Opel into an independent legal structure.
The other suitor for Opel, Fiat Group SpA, stayed away from the talks, which began late Friday, saying that it faced "unreasonable” funding demands.
by the associated press
No comments:
Post a Comment