Magna chief executive Frank Stronach has said the firm has no plans for a direct stake in Opel.
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“We don’t see ourselves as a saviour. We only want to help. If one of our customers is in trouble, we will always look to see what we can do,” Stronach told the Graz regional daily Kleine Zeitung.
“The same goes for any partner. But we first take a look to see if it’s healthy for Magna.”
Stronach told the newspaper that Magna was in good shape, despite the global crisis.
“We’ve got around 1.5 billion dollars cash in the bank. We can easily enter into a deal without putting ourselves in jeopardy,” he said.
But Stronach declined to elaborate how any potential aid package might look.
“It’s too early at this stage. But I repeat: we supply Opel and it’s in our interest that Opel does well. The market can’t be allowed to disappear. We’re close neighbours, Germany and Austria have close economic ties. It’s about saving jobs and creating new ones,” he said.
Some German politicians this week have advocated a deal between Opel and Magna, preferring Magna over Fiat as a potential partner.
