BREAKING: GM board opts to call off Opel sale

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Filed under: Car Buying, Europe, GM, Opel



After months of negotiations with supplier Magna and its Russian partner Sberbank, General Motors has decided not to sell its Opel unit. The General mentioned in the post-jump press release that the new board of directors came to the decision to keep Opel due to GM's recovering financial situation coupled with an improving business environment in Europe. GM's move to keep Opel comes just one week after EU's Directorate-General for Competition began investigating the sale to Magna to be sure it was based on sound financial footing and not because of political influence from Germany.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson added in the company's release that the process was difficult for all parties but in the end "our goal has been to secure the best long-term solution for our customers, employees, suppliers and dealers, which is reflected in the decision reached today. This was deemed to be the most stable and least costly approach for securing Opel/Vauxhall's long-term future."

Now that GM plans to keep Opel in its brand portfolio, the next move is to proceed with a painful restructuring that could see the loss of 10,000 jobs and the elimination of 30% of the Euro unit's structural costs. The reported tally for the restructuring could cost GM upwards of $4.4 billion, and some of that could come courtesy of cash received as part of the company's $50 billion US government bailout.

Now that GM is out of bankruptcy, the company is reportedly no longer barred from using bailout funds for countries or regions outside of the US. It's also possible that GM could get loans from Germany and or Great Britain to finance the restructuring. The Detroit MI-based automaker also intends to work with European unions to develop a plan that contributes to Opel's restructuring. Hit the jump to pour over GM's press release.

[Source: Detroit News]Continue reading BREAKING: GM board opts to call off Opel sale

BREAKING: GM board opts to call off Opel sale originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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