Opel quest
May 10, 2009
The economics minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sultan bin Said al Mansouri, has dashed German hopes for a swift cash injection for the ailing carmaker Opel.
He told his German counterpart Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg at a meeting in Abu Dhabi that his country was considering investments in potential joint ventures, but that no concrete decisions had yet been made.
The United Arab Emirates can reportedly tap up to 700 billion euros of state funds, and the German media have been speculating that the rich Gulf state could invest in carmakers Opel or Porsche, especially after the Arabs readily took a 9.1 precent stake in Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, in March.
Guttenberg, who was on a three-day tour of the Gulf region, said the Arabs had indicated that they would not make any decisions concerning Opel until its nearly bankrupt US parent company General Motors had drawn up a clear concept for the future of its German subsidiary.
The minister also said in an interview to be published in the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel on Monday that Berlin was looking for a way to protect Opel if General Motors goes bankrupt.
"It will be about protecting Opel's assets from GM's creditors," he said, referring to how Opel can survive GM's restructuring efforts to avoid going bust itself.
A potential solution would be a bridge loan for Opel provided by a consortium, which analysts say would be tantamount to a government-owned stake in Opel.
Germans suspicious of Fiat
Guttenberg was quoted by Spiegel as saying that questions remain over plans by both Italian automaker Fiat and Austrian-Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna International to invest in Opel, while stressing that he is equally open to both suitors.
Fiat's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, visited Germany twice in the past week to present officials with his plan to set up a GM Europe operation with Britain's Vauxhall, Sweden's Saab and Opel under the Fiat umbrella.
Marchionne is looking to build the world's second largest carmaker with annual production volumes of over six million vehicles by uniting the aforementioned brands with bankrupt US ally Chrysler.
German labor leaders and politicians fear that a takeover by Fiat could result in the loss of thousands of Opel jobs in Germany.
Italian unions have expressed similar fears after a report this week claimed Fiat plans to slash 18,000 jobs by closing or scaling down 10 factories in Europe, if it takes over Opel.
Italian news agency ANSA has reported that Italian unions on Saturday said they would meet their German colleagues in Frankfurt on May 13 to discuss the takeover.