Germany will transfer the first tranche of bridge financing to carmaker Opel GmbH Tuesday, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told radio station Deutschlandfunk, adding that Magna International Inc. (MGA) won't be involved in bridge financing as previously expected.

"There was a change yesterday that I'd like to make known, which is that Magna won't be part of the bridge financing loan short-term," Steinbrueck said, saying that instead Germany is in a position to transfer the first tranche of state-guaranteed bridge financing Tuesday.

With that Magna won't contribute the EUR300 million previously planned, Steinbrueck said, adding that the new arrangement has interest advantages for Germany. It wasn't clear from his comments whether or not Magna would eventually contribute to a later payment of the financing.

Company Web site: http://www.dradio.de

-By Sarah Sloat; Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29725521; sarah.sloat@dowjones.com