UPDATE: Opel Supervisory Board Member: Have 65%-35% Accord
28 Mai 2009 - 12:54PM
Dow Jones News
Parties involved in talks to secure financing for General Motors
Corp.'s (GM) unit Adam Opel GmbH have agreed GM should sell 65% of
the German carmaker, Opel supervisory board member Armin Schild
told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview Thursday.
He said a number of covenants were set late Wednesday to pave
the way toward a bridge-financing solution, Schild, who represents
workers organized in IG Metall labor union on the board, said. "One
of them was to agree on a 65%-35% logic."
High-level talks which started late Wednesday in Berlin and went
into the wee hours failed to bring about a decision on how to
shield Opel from the impact of a looming GM insolvency. New talks
have been scheduled for Friday to pave the way for a trusteeship
solution backed by guarantees from Germany's government.
Schild said it remained unclear how the 65% would be split, but
that workers and car dealers are no longer seeking a controlling
stake in the company.
Workers had offered to take a stake in Opel in exchange for
foregone wage payments. They wanted to team up with GM's European
car dealers association to get over the threshold for a 25.1%
blocking minority.
In the light of recent developments "we'd now be closer to 10%,"
Schild said, adding that an answer to the question was likely to be
found in a new round of talks scheduled for Friday, but would yet
remain sketchy.
The remaining bidders for the German car maker,
Austrian-Canadian Magna International Inc. (MGA) and Italian
automaker Fiat SpA (F.MI), both also improved offers and pledged to
secure more German jobs, Schild said.
"We would have had more bidders for Opel, if only the Economics
Minister" (Karl-Theordor zu Guttenberg) had provided for a greater
degree of confidentiality and less publicity, Schild said.
In the overnight talks, GM revealed that it wants $350 million
in cash from its subsidiary, both the German government and workers
said.
Ministers in Germany's government complained about GM
brinkmanship, which complicated talks.
"The way I see it is that these demands stem from the joint cash
pool GM and its subsidiaries are sharing," Schild said, "GM is on
the verge of insolvency and can only get very expensive loans, if
that."
Opel's works council struck a sour note in response to GM's
demand in a press release issued Thursday.
The works council said the German government must withstand GM's
attempts to hold it ransom.
Klaus Franz, who is the head of Opel's works council and sits on
the supervisory board too, called the last-minute revelation
"disastrous" and a "bitter setback."
Schild said we "now have to find a solution. We're on the home
stretch, but the track is longer than originally expected."
-By Roman Kessler, Dow Jones Newswires, +4969 2972 5514,
roman.kessler@dowjones.com