UPDATE: Germany Merkel: Liquidity Guarantees Tool To Help Cos
26 Februar 2009 - 1:59PM
Dow Jones News
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that possible
liquidity guarantees would be the right tool the help companies
asking for public aid, such German carmaker Adam Opel GmbH, a unit
of General Motors Corp. (GM), and the family-owned engineering
group Schaeffler.
However, any help depends on the companies providing a feasible
restructuring plan and that the companies can prove their situation
is caused by the current financial crisis and not a result of
structural problems. She also said she hasn't yet seen
restructuring plans from both companies.
"I regard (liquidity) guarantees as the tool that we are
eyeing," Merkel told reporters of the foreign press association
VAP.
The German government recently set up a EUR100 billion fund to
provide liquidity guarantees and loans to help companies struggling
with tight credit conditions, to which Merkel referred.
Armin Schild, a supervisory board member at Opel said recently
the company needs at least EUR3.3 billion in capital to survive and
become less dependent on GM.
Schaeffler is seeking help because it has a shortage of capital
of between EUR5 billion and EUR6 billion, partly because it has to
fund the takeover of Continental AG (CON.XE).
-By Andrea Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; +49-30-288-8410;
andrea.thomas@dowjones.com