Chinese carmaker Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC, 北京汽車工業) is in the running for General Motors Corp’s European unit with a bid worth 660 million euros (US$922 million), reports said.
BAIC and GM China were both unavailable for comment when contacted yesterday.
BAIC submitted a non-binding offer for GM’s German-based unit Opel late on Thursday, just before a deadline for prospective buyers, the Guangzhou Daily newspaper, the Financial Times and Dow Jones Newswires said.
BAIC’s offer was said to be worth 660 million euros.
Russian state lender OAO Sberbank is also in the bidding for Opel in partnership with Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna International Inc.
The German government in May announced a rescue plan for Opel in which 35 percent of the firm would go to Sberbank and 20 percent to Magna, but talks have bogged down since.
According to the FT, RHJ International SA, a Brussels-based industrial holding linked to US buy-out group Ripplewood Holdings, has also made a non-binding offer.
Fiat SpA is also interested in Opel, but has pledged no cash for the stake.
The head of GM Europe has said he hopes Opel will be bought by Magna by the middle of this month and that the Canadian firm has a “considerable lead” on other possible buyers, a report said.
In a newspaper interview published yesterday, GM Europe’s chief executive Carl-Peter Forster told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that the sale of Opel to Magna was on track for completion this month.
“It’s only a matter of details now,” he said.
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 said.
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, the 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.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man plowed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night. Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash, but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries.” It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years. China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
RSS