Canadian auto parts maker Magna is unlikely to meet its target of mid-July for taking over Opel from General Motors, a press report said Saturday, quoting a source in the economy ministry.
Too many issues are still unresolved and “the likelihood of a contract being signed next week is extremely low”, the daily Bild quoted its source as saying.
Magna general director Siegried Wolf told Thursday’s edition of the daily Rheinische Post, “We are aiming for the date of July 15 to present documents” that would seal a deal.
“We are on the right path,” Wolf added.
In late May, Magna and GM signed a letter of intent concerning Opel under the aegis of the German government, which is to provide substantial financial support for the deal, but talks have occasionally stumbled since then.
Last weekend, the head of GM Europe, Carl-Peter Forster, said Magna had a “considerable lead” on other bidders, including China’s BAIC, and voiced optimism that an accord with the Canadian group, which is backed by Russian capital, would be reached by mid-July.
Roland Koch, the regional premier of Hesse, the German state which will contribute to a bailout of Opel, also backs Magna against BAIC, which has made a concrete offer for Opel and its British unit Vauxhall.
Opel cannot be run by a company that “produces 12,000 cars a year and does not even have the backing of the Chinese government,” Koch told the regional newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt.
Magna is “the best solution” and has “a large advance on other bidders,” he added.
But according to the latest edition of the motoring weekly Automobilwoche to appear Monday, a meeting of the Magna board due to be held on Tuesday in Austria has been postponed, and the July 15 target date for a deal on Opel has been scratched.
The German economy ministry refused to comment to AFP Saturday.
