Germany’s economics minister has ruled out any attempt by General Motors to include an option to buy back majority control of GM Europe, which produces Opel and Vauxhall vehicles, as part of a deal to give up more than 50 per cent of its German subsidiary in exchange for state aid.
“This is incompatible with our views and cannot happen,” Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told German Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview.
Reuters Newsagency says the comments could suggest that Belgian financial investor RHJ International may have problems with its bid if the company is viewed as only a short-term player.
Germany is expected to shoulder the bulk of the billions in loan guarantees as part of a deal, and state and federal governments are represented on the board of a trust that has to approve a sale of Opel.
The minister also warned bidders for Opel will have to invest more of their own capital for the package of state aid to obtain EU clearance, since otherwise the only ones risking anything are taxpayers.
Mr Guttenberg explained that the size of the state aid requested would not be the deciding factor alone for Berlin.
“That’s too simple. What good is an offer that is cheap (to the taxpayers) if the return of the money is in question?
“The key will be if a concept is so sustainable that there is a high probability that the interest, fees and the money can be paid back,” he said.
When asked what was sustainable he responded: “A competitive company that urgently addresses the need to consolidate (capacity and staff).”
Magna International, RHJ and Beijing Automotive (BAIC) have been in a race to acquire Opel, with final binding offers due at the close of business in Europe today.
BAIC has requested only 2.64 billion euros in state aid, while RHJ wants 3.8 billion and Magna 4.5 billion, but the Canadian supplier is seen as heavily favoured within Germany, a country where the short-term horizon associated with financial investors is viewed with suspicion.
Magna’s board of directors was expected to approve its takeover plan for Opel at a meeting yesterday evening.
Some executives at GM, unhappy about losing control over Opel, are pushing for a deal with RHJ in part because of the higher likelihood that the US company could reacquire control over its former German subsidiary, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.
Magna’s co-CEO, Siegfried Wolf, has unwavering support from Opel’s labour leaders, regional governments that are home to the carmaker’s plants and Germany’s junior coalition partners, the left-leaning Social Democrats.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that the bid from Magna’s Russian-backed consortium offered “excellent starting points,” and a day later her spokesman said Berlin had a “certain preference” for the concept.
Good move thanks Germany Opel without G.M is only positive.
buy them back with WHAT exactly?…
American’s have NO right to own anything European, not even on the same wavelength.I hope Lombardini can be Italian owned again, and not by toilet maker Kohler!
Anyway, as per before, the ONLY long-term logical solution for Opel is join with FIAT Group.
Cheers
F-0
Good move?
This mean we never get Insignia and Astra with Lion Badge.
We can get only Korean made cars with Lion Badge soon.
So, is this still good move?
Good move for Opel. They will be glad to NOT be owned by GM. Holden may yet be sold. Why is everyone so closed minded to this? Remember, the new G(overnment)M(otors) is still in its infancy and if it decides to concemtrate all of its energies solely in the USA, which it should, then the best thing for them would be to off-load Holden who dont make any money for them anyway.
Tack^^^^
Spot on!
All the same, GM/H had made it’s choice a long time ago to dish us out Korean Daewoo meals, instead of class/premium Euro ones.
Still, to have a *quality* euro meal @ a fair price, head on over to the BlueOval camp, Fiesta, Mondeo and Transit all true euro blue-blood products!
I wonder how “they” if/can ever sell Astra and Insignia/Vectra here again, need a whole new brand/dealership establised?
Cheers,
F-0
what’s with the anti-GM attitude? actually anti-americanism all about? you people really think that anything “EURO” is better, that they will produce better cars when they’re not owned by americans!
gee, what’s with that? so you’ll buy their cars or products as soon as they’re not owned by americans? what’s wrong with you people?
schah7
“Good move thanks Germany Opel without G.M is only positive.”
really? how do you know that?
RobX^^^^
Unless your been living under a rock, the American have done a wonderful job of car/brand ownership/building…NOT!
Lets see:
Ones owned by the US GovCo, should just have been scrapped.
Ones owned by FIAT
And the other is trying to sell off all it can just to survive.
Yeap, fine job done by the Yanks, NOT!
The future of car building is Asian, with a sprinkle of Euro premium flavour.
Lets face it, just like textiles, times are a moving, the Yanks dont seem to have a place in building them, just buying/using them!
Cheers
F-0
Spam word – Pontiac lol
I would never wish bankruptcy on anyone, but GM really deserves it. They have no idea of how to make good decisions (eg Bob Lutz saying the G8 would make it back to as a Chevy and then going back on it) they must be THE most disorganised company in the history of the word – they HAD to have seen it coming!
As I see it, Opel/Vauxhall (maybe Holden too) would honestly be the only profitable parts of GM and they’re selling Opel? Good, it means they’ll stuck with the same old boring platforms and badge engineering.
I’d love it if Holden went behind GM’s back and decided to either import or make some Opels (Insignia, Corsa, Astra etc) here because the Opels are truly world-class and you cannot beat European engineering.
The issue is that the mindset which caused GM to be in the position it was, still permeates throughout the organisation and that sadly will not change anytime soon. The Germans want no further part of it and rightly so. GM is still living on borrowed time and there is no certainty it will survive.
I agree with RobX.
Being just American is not the problem
I think we need to remind a few here that GM Europe has not been that profitable over the past 5 years and have produced rubbish vehicles in the past, that has nothing to do with being owned by Americans or not.
Why do you think They off loaded opel/Vaxhaul!?
Flying high,
GM will now work, it has too and was planned too once the US goverment payed to own it!
GM is now producing some very capabale vehicles, time is what is needed before you see them at thier best.
Very wise move.
The last thing anyone wants is for Opel to be rescued from the clutches of GovMo with European taxpayers money only to see it go back in the future. And given how we came to this fine mess, GovMo has a hide even suggesting that it should be entitled to get Opel back.
Ask yourselves why they didn’t offload Holden peoples…
Adam (Aka Mada) Says:
“Ask yourselves why they didn’t offload Holden peoples…”
No1) Nobody is interested in purchasing Holden.
No2) The australian taxpayer keeps injecting funds into GM via Holden.
Tomas79 Says:
July 20th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
No1) Nobody is interested in purchasing Holden.
No2) The australian taxpayer keeps injecting funds into GM via Holden.
Yeah ok…
There always needs to be a negative spin with some people.
Adam (Aka Mada) Says:
“Yeah ok…
There always needs to be a negative spin with some people.”
Negative Spin? I guess a holden fan boy doesn’t wanna hear the truth!!
Ok, Everybody is knocking at GM’s door, causing a bidding war for Holden. But GM just doesn’t wanna sell the highly profitable Holden, due to it’s great demand for it’s G8 range of Vehicles in the U.S…. Also It’s expertise in RWD technology… (Since no other car manufacturer has a range of RWD/AWD vehicles at the moment…)
Tomas79,
Are you serious!?
I’m not biased to ANY brand, not that closed minded, thanks for the assumption however!
Could you please provide proof to your statement perhaps??
Adam (Aka Mada) Says:
“Could you please provide proof to your statement perhaps??”
Yes, can you tell how many manufacturers made a bid for holden recently, or are in talks over acquiring holden??
might i add, Saab and Hummer certainly aren’t the most desirable business units GM had to sell yet they have buyers.
You don’t judge a brands worth on the number of bidders…
Holden simply has a future with GM and wasn’t considered vital to offload during bankruptcy.
How about you do some research into the matter.
Tomas79 Says:
July 20th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Yes, can you tell how many manufacturers made a bid for holden recently, or are in talks over acquiring holden??
Why are you asking me?
Adam (Aka Mada), Hummer, and SAAB brands are desirable, and recognised all over the world. Hence interested buyers came forward!!
Most people around the world however have no idea what holden is… Through out most of it’s history (with the exeption of VE) they just altered, and rebadged opel or other GM platforms for the Local market.
“Why are you asking me?”
Since you don’t think I’m right, you must have some evidence that proves otherwise??? Or are you just blind fan boy??
No manufacturer has made a bid for holden in recent history, therefore nobody is interested in holden!!
Once the Australian Government funding stops, it will go the way of the Pontiac!!
So much fightin’, Tomas79. So much fightin’. Golfschwein can only sigh. Hey, tell ya what, it could be an anger management problem. Have you seen somebody about it?
I think its a little arrogant to think they could buy Opel back at their demand.
Did they honestly think they would be able to put Opel in to “Hock” courtesy of the local Pawn shop (German Gov)
I think they were in the wrong kind of Porn shop because they were obviously playing with themselves thinking they have an upper hand at the moment
I remember the first time I discovered Opel. I was 10 and visiting France with my family when I saw a Holden Astra with a strange lightning bolt badge. I also saw it on a Zafira, Vectra and Combo. You can imagine how confused I was! Even more so when I saw them all again in England badged with a griffin! Bloody Vauxhall! I do think that it would be wise for GM (or the new owner)to delete Vauxhall and just sell Opels around Europe. I mean, Vauxhall doesn’t really sell anything that Opel doesn’t already (besides the VXR8). It would save a lot of money. And sure, there might be some nostalgia worries, but Pontiac had those and it was still axed.
I’m a Di_khead.
Adam (aka mada) – you will find Tomas79 has a history of making assumptions about other people on this site.. which one can assume is due to either his poor understanding of the english language and grammae or the fact that he takes things out of context thereby only gets 1/4 of the message.
Same applies to the handful of other Toyota fans on this site
Even though the Govt may say that GM won’t be allowed to buy back Opel – there is nothing stopping GM from increasing their share by gradually buying back shares in the future [overtime].
I say that because when the German Govt needs money in the future they may be forced to sell their share – which GM could make an offer for.. same applies to the banks and other private companies which will originally own a major share of New-Opel
Wheelnut, before you have a crack at someone’s grammar, how about checking your own?
Steve I agree with you pal,i think wheelnut should change his name to wingnut
SteveH exactly…
Wheelnut, you obviously can’t provide a legitimate on-topic counter argument, so there you go with typical line of Personal Insults!!
Wheelnut, I certainly wouldn’t be talking about understanding the english language (the only language you can speak) given the idiotic, and complelty inaccurate information you dridled at http://www.caradvice.com.au/35...../#comments
It just shows you can’t even comprehend the articles you provide links to!!
Golfschwein and Wheenut, This is a car advice website, if you wanna discuss people, there is a Perez hilton blog you can do it on!!
Golfschwein gently shakes head. See, Tomas79, you fell straight into the little Irony Trap I set you. Attack, defence, attack, defence and on it goes.
Always fightin’. Sigh. Always fightin’………..
It seems its always somebody has to pick up from where GM totally screwed up. GM has a history of screwing up their overseas subsidiaries and making bad decisions.
If the German authorities don’t take a stake in Opel, it is going to fall into foreign hands. Opel makes the majority of lower end models for Holden like the Cruze and Barina.
It will be interesting to see if Holden can still get European models for its lower end market segments if Opel is not owned by GM.
Opel seems to be the poor man of German auto industry as compared to Bmw, Mercs and VW.