German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle has said that Opel has no need for state aid because it can finance restructuring by itself.
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Bruederle told German television station ZDF that any company could submit an application for aid from Germany, which would then be examined.
“But the good news is — and this means the matter of Opel has been defused for me — the head of the supervisory board said we don’t need it, we can do it on our own. And we checked this again with their press department, so this has been confirmed and expressly authorised,” Bruederle said on ZDF.
Reuters noted that in talks with GM this week, Bruederle had said that GM would not be able to count on German support for an overhaul of Opel.
GM has said that it estimates restructuring costs for Opel/Vauxhall of just EUR3bn – a figure that has been questioned as sounding too low by some observers.
Today GM Europe announced that it has paid back another EUR200m of the Opel Bridge Loan made available by Berlin.
“Today, a €200 million payback of the Opel bridge loan was made. We now have an outstanding balance of €400 million which we expect to pay back by November 30,” said Enrico Digirolamo, GM Europe Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
