Germany’s economy minister was quoted as saying on Saturday that questions remained over plans by both Fiat SpA and auto parts maker Magna International Inc to invest in General Motors’ (GM) main European unit, Opel, adding that he was equally open to both suitors.
Fiat’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, has visited Germany twice in the past week to present officials his plan to make GM Europe, including German-based Adam Opel GmbH, part of a global powerhouse also including Chrysler.
Canadian-based Magna has said it is in talks about options for Opel that might include taking a minority stake, but otherwise has given few details.
“Both concepts, both Magna’s and Fiat’s, still include open questions that need to be cleared up,” Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was quoted as telling the weekly Der Spiegel. “For the time being, I view both concepts with the same openness and skepticism.”
Guttenberg did not elaborate on the questions.
GM has been trying to find investors for non-core and unprofitable assets to help stave off collapse. Opel employs some 26,000 people in Germany — nearly half of GM’s total European work force.
“Of course, we want to secure as many jobs and facilities as possible. At the same time we have the obligation to deal responsibility with tax money,” Guttenberg was quoted as saying.
Germany cannot “pay a loan guarantee come what may, regardless of how questionable or solid the concepts to save Opel are in the end.”
Earlier this week, he said Fiat’s plan would require short-term financing estimated at between 5 billion and 7 billion euros (US$6.7 billion and US$9.4 billion) Europe-wide, which could be covered by loan guarantees from governments.
Guttenberg said a GM bankruptcy filing next month could not be ruled out, Der Spiegel reported.
If, by then, GM is largely in agreement with an investor on a satisfactory concept for Opel, “we are considering among other options, for example, a model in which the GM holding in Opel could temporarily be passed to a trustee,” he was quoted as saying.
A bank consortium could offer bridging aid, he said.
In Fiat’s home city, Turin, Marchionne said on Saturday that he was confident of winning over the Germans to his plan.
“Let us keep working at it, I am sure of convincing them,” Italy’s ANSA news agency quoted him as saying. “It’s the right situation for them and for us.”
He said that Fiat was offering “a basis of industrial coherence that no one else is capable of giving,” ANSA said.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also voiced optimism.
“I hope that there will be” a Fiat-Opel accord, Berlusconi told a news conference at his office in Rome.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
MARITIME SECURITY: Of the 52 vessels, 15 were rated a ‘threat’ for various reasons, including the amount of time they spent loitering near subsea cables, the CGA said Taiwan has identified 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the nation, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, as the nation seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables. The stricter regime comes after a Cameroon-flagged vessel was briefly detained by the CGA earlier this month on suspicion of damaging an international cable northeast of Taiwan. The vessel is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company with a Chinese address given for its only listed director, the CGA said previously. Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt
RSS