Canadian car parts maker Magna International Inc said on Thursday it had ironed out the final details in its bid to buy General Motors Co’s German Opel unit.
Magna said “the open questions have been closed” in negotiations between GM and Magna management, and the contract will now to go GM’s board.
The GM board will then have to decide between it and the offer from Brussels-based investor RHJ International SA.
The Magna bid — from a consortium of Magna International Inc and Russian lender Sberbank — is preferred by Berlin.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the government’s task force on Opel would convene over the weekend to vote on its preferred offer, although she acknowledged that the final decision lies with GM.
“I hope that we can find a joint path,” Merkel said in an interview with public broadcasters Deutschlandradio Kultur and Phoenix.
DENIAL
In response, GM’s chief negotiator, John Smith, said on GM Europe’s blog yesterday that GM had not reached an agreement with Magna and Russia’s Sberbank on the sale of its Opel unit.
GM is reviewing a revised offer received from Magna on Thursday and said it woud update the comparisons it has made to an “attractive” proposal submitted by RHJ International on July 20, Smith wrote.
“There is more to consider, and more to do, before an agreement for Opel is reached,” he said.
‘SIMPLER’
GM Europe said in the past it had already received an offer from RHJ International that was “simpler” than Magna’s offer.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is also deputy chancellor, welcomed the deal.
“I am pleased that we found investors who are prepared to invest in keeping jobs here,” Steinmeier said in Varel, where he is campaigning for the upcoming parliamentary election.
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