“There was an agreement that Magna and GM on July 15 should be far enough in their negotiations that they can reach a conclusion that serves as the basis for a contract,” one person familiar with the matter said, according to Reuters.
Magna co-CEO Siegfried Wolf said on June 3 that he expected a “final signing” in four to five weeks’ time. Then there would be another waiting period for regulatory approvals. The closing is expected by the end of September.
Two days after Wolf’s comments, GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster confirmed Wolf’s rough plan of reaching a “definitive agreement” by July and a closing by September.
During the time that General Motors is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and until a sale to a new investor is concluded, 65 percent of Opel’s shares are formally held by a trust set up to ensure that a €1.5 billion (Kč 40 billion) bridge loan extended by Germany is not misappropriated.
The U.S. government has attempting to bail out GM, and the sale of Opel is part of the plan to streamline the auto giant. The restructuring “will mark the end of an old GM, and the beginning of a new GM; a new GM that can produce the high-quality, safe, and fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow; that can lead America towards an energy independent future; and that is once more a symbol of America’s success,” U.S. President Barack Obama said.
On June 1, 2009, GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, making it the fourth-largest filing in the U.S. history after Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, and Worldcom. Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows for a companies and individuals to reorganize and establishes a plan for resolving debt. GM stock was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8.
Rival bidders waiting in the wings such as Fiat and Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC) are still hoping for a collapse in the talks in order to re-enter negotiations with GM.
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