China's BAIC Plans To Present Bid For GM's Opel -Source
01 Juli 2009 - 9:25PM
Dow Jones News
China's Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. plans to present
a detailed bid for General Motors Corp.'s (GMGMQ) core European
Adam Opel GmbH operations within the next few days, hoping to step
in should takeover talks with Magna International (MGA) turn sour,
a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
In May, GM signed a memorandum of understanding to sell a sale
of a majority stake in Opel and its U.K. sister brand Vauxhall to
Canadian auto supplier Magna, which has launched an offer backed by
Russia's Sberbank (SBER.RS) and automaker GAZ (GAZA.RS). The
agreement isn't legally binding, but Opel's powerful labor unions
have already voiced their support.
BAIC held discussions with GM last week about the possibility of
bidding for Adam Opel, the Wall Street Journal reported June 25,
citing a person familiar with the situation. The Chinese company,
which expressed its interest in the unit in a letter of intent to
Germany's economy ministry in May, has since offered more
detail.
Magna still appears to be the front runner, though talks
continue with BAIC and RHJ International (RHJI.BT), another person
familiar with the matter said.
The tentative agreement with Magna is backed by EUR1.5 billion
in bridge financing provided by the German government to keep Opel
afloat as parent GM filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S.
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 2972 5512;
christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com;
(Norihiko Shirouzu of The Wall Street Journal contributed to this article.)