Canadian car parts maker Magna, Belgium-based investment fund RHJ and China's BAIC have all filed formal bids to take over General Motors' struggling subsidiary Opel. A GM statement said it would now analyse and compare the final bids.
While the final decision lies with GM, the German government is involved as it is set to stump up billions of euro in loan guarantees to sweeten any takeover deal in a bid to save tens of thousands of jobs.
Speaking at an earlier regular briefing, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said the government's Opel task force would examine the bids once they had been officially tabled.
Germany has made clear that it favours Magna, with Chancellor Angela Merkel saying as recently as last week that the Magna bid 'offers Opel a chance'.
In late May, the German government agreed to support with cheap loans and loan guarantees a bid for a majority stake in Opel by Magna, which has teamed up with state-owned Russian bank Sberbank and car maker GAZ. The Canadian firm confirmed today that it had submitted a slightly altered bid.
Magna and Sberbank will each buy a stake of 27.5%. Previously Magna had declared itself ready to acquire only a 20% stake. They still seek €4.5 billion in state guarantees.
RHJ is said to be seeking €700m less in state guarantees than the Magna deal and would buy a 50.1% stake for €275m.
RHJ is thought to be planning around 8,100 job losses Europe-wide. The German government said in May that Magna's plan involved around 2,600 jobs shed in Germany, with a further 8,500 elsewhere in Europe. BAIC's preliminary offer is valued at €660m and it asked for €2.64 billion in German government guarantees.
