The sale of General Motors’ European Opel and Vauxhall units to Magna International may not be completed until close to the end of this year according a lawyer involved in the process.
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Alfred Hagebusch told reporters that the investor process cannot be completed in a short time and that “one should get used to a time horizon of between three to six months”.
Along with GM Europe Vice-President Eric Stevens, the Frankfurt-based insolvency lawyer is one of two managing directors overseeing a trust that temporarily owns 65 percent of Opel.
GM needs to work out the final details of the agreement reached last Friday under which the Canadian auto parts supplier will take a 20 percent stake and Magna’s Russian partner Sberbank buy another 35 percent. The remaining 10 percent will go to Opel’s 50,000-odd European employees.
Were negotiations to collapse, Hagebusch said he would likely be charged with the search to find a new investor. In the meantime he added that the trust would largely stay out of management’s way as it seeks to reorganise Opel and cut some $1.2 billion in structural costs.
It has also emerged that Magna will be prevented from selling Opel cars in the US and China as part of the agreement with GM. Magna chairman Frank Stonach confirmed this to reporters in Ottawa.
He suggested, however, that the ban on Opel sales in China might be flexible. “If it makes economic sense you might persuade people to change something.”
Stronach added that he expects Opel to break even in three years, and to turn a profit in four and that Magna is not interested in the Saturn and Saab brands with GM is also trying to unload.
“We have to digest Opel now, and we have got a mouthful, so we’ll see how quickly that will take place,” he said.
Stronach is also seeking funding from the Canadian government for a project to produce electrical systems for electric cars and, eventually, electric cars themselves. He says his is confident that Magna will be amongst the leaders in selling and building EVs.
The company is looking to build a C$300m ($280m) plant, ideally in Canada although the US or Europe has not been ruled out. It is seeking a federal loan for half that amount under Canada’s Automotive Innovation Fund, designed to support research and development projects to build greener vehicles
Stronach said mass production could begin within three years.
