It's been a long time coming, for all this GM Europe divestiture business. For both Saab and Opel. Who knows if we'll hear a final announcement with regards to Saab this week, but if the timetable in the news services is correct, we should definitely hear an outcome with regards to Opel.
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International Inc. ( MGA) and Ripplewood, which is behind Belgian investment group RHJ International SA (RHJI.BT), will submit bids for General Motors Corp.'s (GMGMQ) Opel and Vauxhall car brands Monday, the U.K. Business Secretary said."We will know today, I believe, that two bidders, Magna International and a Belgium-based company Ripplewood are putting forward bids to share the ownership of General Motors in Europe with the parent company in North America," Peter Mandelson said on BBC radio.
He said GM would be considering those bids over the following 48 hours and was likely to indicate its preference Wednesday.
I'm not sure why this article from CNN Money doesn't mention Beijing Automotive, but they're said to still be in the running, too.
The smart money is on Magna, who enjoy a favourable opinion from both the unions and the German government, both of whom are key to getting this deal done. RHJ are seen as a bidder more likely to try and sell back to GM in a few years, a position which is not viewed positively by the German government:
Germany's economics minister has ruled out any attempt by General Motors to include an option to buy back majority control of GM Europe, which produces Opel and Vauxhall vehicles, as part of a deal to give up more than 50 per cent of its German subsidiary in exchange for state aid."This is incompatible with our views and cannot happen," Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told German Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview.
Reuters Newsagency says the comments could suggest that Belgian financial investor RHJ International may have problems with its bid if the company is viewed as only a short-term player.
Reuters just reported Magna playing hardball on Opel's Intellectual Property: "Citing a single source, Kommersant daily said the Magna consortium, which includes Russian state bank Sberbank (SBER03.MM), would make its new offer "in the form of an ultimatum" and leave the talks if it was not accepted.
Magna would want to sell Opel cars under its own brand and make any changes it wished to Opel designs, as well as use Opel technology for new models,..."
German foreign policy with Russia, and the EU natural gas issues with Russia seem to be behind German preference for Magna/Russia consortium, along with obvious desire to smack GM very hard.
Would seem Opel's assembly in Belgium will take job loss hit in either deal, so Audi helped by confirming they will start retooling for A1 in Belgium in August. (A1 not currently destined for U.S.)
Anyway, did we ever get confirmation about the location of the 9-5 tooling? perhaps K-egg Group AB prefers to invest their resources in other projects for Trollhattan rather than re-pay GM for the 9-5 toolling and move?
And, one hopes that GM has a different team finalizing the sale of Saab so that the Opel deal does not delay Saab's future.
Saab has the same dilemma. It's remains way too quiet.
July 21, 2009
Article from: The Times
GENERALS Motors, the American car giant, is believed to be weighing up three bids for its European business.
Magna, the Canadian car parts supplier, and RHJ International, a Belgian industrial group, both submitted binding, formal offers for GM Europe, the business that controls Vauxhall in Britain and Opel on the Continent.
It is also thought that the Chinese bidder Beijing Automotive (BAIC) had also tabled an offer. BAIC represents the last contender into the race to acquire GM Europe, assets which its American parent has been forced to sell off after almost collapsing this year.
Executives at General Motors’ headquarters in Detroit are now weighing up the merits of each bid and are due to speak to Lord Mandelson, the UK Business Secretary, and the German government later today to indicate which offer they are minded to choose.
Lord Mandelson is keen to deliver some reassurance to Vauxhall workers at the carmaker’s Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire when he meets them in a pre-scheduled meeting later today. Lord Mandelson is pressing for some certainty over the identity of a new owner for GM Europe by the end of the week.
However, any bid, which would have to receive the backing of Berlin, would also need clearance from European regulators.
Magna, which had initially been chosen as the preferred bidder by the German government earlier this northern summer, has now completed its due diligence of GM Europe, resolved a row with the American parent over intellectual property rights and has restructured the financing of its offer for the European car maker.
Under pressure from Berlin, Magna’s new offer shows that Sberbank, the state-owned Russian lender controlled by Oleg Deripaska, has reduced its proposed stake in GM Europe to 27.5 per cent -- equal to that of the Canadian firm. General Motors in the US would retain a 35 per cent holding and Opel workers would take 10 per cent.
While the details of each bid are not known publicly, all three are desperate to prove to the British and German governments that they are seeking to preserve jobs in return for substantial state aid.
The amount of state aid pledged by Lord Mandelson and the German government will depend on the number of jobs either bidder will commit to in both countries.
GM will rebrand all Opels as Buicks in the next years, and selling them first in China and then in the states. This is why BAIC has no glimpse of a chance and RHJ is GM's favourite, if the rebranded Buicks sell well, GM will be buying Opel back, and RHJ is the one willing to do so.
It will be a little war between GM (american gouverment) and the german gouverment, let's see how charming Obama can be ;)
Reuters has Q&A about "byzantine decision-making process" is for Opel, a process which makes me now glad the Swedish government did NOT offer bridge loans to Saab.
http://www.reuters.com/article/euDealsNews/idUSTRE56K3WS20090721
Some others think the Opel decision could drag out past the German elections on September 27,
when the 9-5 should be starting production...still the only issue I see tied up with Opel drama besides opportunity for more Saab sales in EU.
Cadillac ?? ;)
And who's fault is it ?
Well I would say mr. Obama and his cold CAFE (Spanish for Coffee).
Without CAFE I couldn't stand up in the morning and New GM would continue building >5L V8 engines and telling the new Camaro is a muscle car.
Article from: The Times
BERLIN has thrown its weight behind a Canadian bid to buy GM Europe, the carmaker that owns the Vauxhall marque in Britain and Opel in Germany.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said that after reviewing the offers for the vehicle manufacturer from Magna, the Canadian car parts supplier, RHJ International, a Belgian industrials group, and BAIC, a Chinese bidder, she remained convinced that Magna was the best option.
GM Europe is on the auction block after General Motors, its American parent, teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and was forced to carve itself up. The asset break-up leaves 5000 Vauxhall jobs in Ellesmere Port, on Merseyside, and Luton in the balance.
Promises of substantial state aid for the successful bidder mean that Germany and the UK will play a pivotal role in determining the future ownership of GM Europe. It is understood that any financial guarantees will depend on the commitment shown to the workforce in each country.
Lord Mandelson, Britain's Business Secretary, had hoped that executives at General Motors in Detroit would have assessed the three bids and expressed their preferred choice by yesterday. He had also hoped that the process of deciding on a final bidder and agreeing state aid would have reached a conclusion by the end of this week, with Vauxhall's future cleared up by September. Now it seems that any decision in Detroit will drag on into next week.
Although the number of redundancies proposed by each bidder has not been made public, it is believed that the Belgians and the Canadians are intending to cut about 10,000 jobs.
While the German Government initially named Magna as its preferred bidder, it insisted later that the Canadian group reduce the role of Sberbank, the Russian state-owned bank, in the new car company that will emerge after the auction.
Sberbank and another Russian group have large holdings in Magna and Berlin remains anxious that Moscow does not seek to exploit its shareholding by exporting German jobs to Russia.
Magna's new offer shows that Sberbank has reduced its proposed stake in GM Europe to 27.5 per cent, equal to that of the Canadian company. General Motors in the United States would retain a 35 per cent holding and Opel workers would take 10 per cent.