The German Government gives green light: Opel passes Magna

The German government has given the green light Saturday recovery of Opel by Canadian automotive supplier Magna to save the European subsidiary of General Motors.

Magna has agreed to advance to € 300 million while the Italian Fiat, who was interested, this judge was unreasonable requirement.

Berlin hoped by his intervention to save the maximum of 25,000 Opel jobs in Germany, or is concentrated almost half of the European workforce automaker.

The agreement provides for the temporary placement of the company Adam Opel, which includes the active european GM except the Swedish brand Saab, under the responsibility of a fiduciary society in which the German authorities and General Motors will have the same rights.

With this arrangement, the fate of Adam Opel will be entirely separate from the house-mother, who should seek the protection of bankruptcy law in the United States on Monday. German taxpayers, who fund a bridge loan of € 1.5 billion will not be made a contribution to the American General Motors restructuring.

After the sale, the Canadian equipment manufacturer will hold 20% of Opel capital, in partnership with the Russian state bank Sberbank, which will own 35%, while GM will retain 35% and the remaining 10% belong to salaries of the group.

The consortium plans to partner with Russian automaker Gaz to produce more than one million cars in Russia and Eastern Europe.

The four Opel plants in Germany are preserved but Magna believes should remove about 2,500 jobs in the country, a total of 7500 8500 cuts across Europe, according to German government officials who requested anonymity.