Magna Executive: Magna Has Not Had Talks With Geely On Opel
23 September 2009 - 12:19PM
Dow Jones News
Magna International Inc. (MGA) hasn't had talks with Chinese
automaker Geely Holding Group Co. about cooperating on General
Motor Co.'s Adam Opel GmbH unit, Frank O'Brien, Asia executive vice
president of the Canadian parts maker, said Wednesday.
"We haven't had any talks with Geely on Opel," he said.
There can't be any cooperation talks on Opel until Opel's new
management team is in place, O'Brien said on the sidelines of an
auto parts forum in Beijing.
A Reuters report earlier this month cited an unnamed source as
saying Geely had approached Magna about a potential production
partnership involving Opel.
The Reuters report said talks between the Chinese automaker and
the Canadian auto parts supplier included the possibility of Geely
taking a stake in Opel.
The report came as Ford Motor Co., according to people familiar
with the matter, was getting closer to picking Geely to take over
Ford's Volvo unit.
A Geely executive confirmed earlier this month that Geely
Holding was bidding for Volvo with an unnamed state-owned
investment company.
-By Patricia Jiayi Ho, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588 5848;
patricia.ho@dowjones.com
(Norihiko Shirouzu contributed to this article.)