Fiat's bid for Opel seen as having the edge

• Source: The Global Times
• [23:39 May 05 2009]
• Comments

Fiat SpA, the Italian carmaker seeking to take over General Motors Corp’s Opel division, may have an advantage over rival bidder Magna International Inc by guaranteeing German jobs and the Opel brand’s future.

A week after GM started due-diligence talks with suitors, Fiat submitted its plan to the German government Monday, promising to keep the Opel brand and the division’s four factories in the country.

“We don’t want to close any of the four Opel factories in Germany. I will need the plants in the future to build enough cars,” Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne was quoted as saying by Bild newspaper.

The proposal is “more detailed than anything we’ve seen from Magna so far,” said Felix Probst, a spokesman for Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who called the plan “interesting” Monday.

“Fiat definitely has the edge,” Juergen Reinholz, economy minister of the German state of Thuringia, who is involved in the talks, said in a phone interview.

Magna, the car parts maker based in Aurora, Ontario, is making a joint bid with OAO Sberbank and OAO GAZ, Reinholz said.

Magna is seeking a minority stake in Opel of no more than 25 percent, according to a German government official.

Magna confirmed in a statement Monday that it is in talks with the German government and GM, without mentioning any possible link with Russian investors.

(Agencies)