Business torrents

Workers at Opel, German politicians and customers of Canada’s Magna expressed concern on Friday about whether General Motors’ decision to sell a majority of Opel to Magna and Russia’s Sberbank will turn out to be a favorable deal.

Many of their questions about state aid and possible plant closures remained unanswered, however, and some details are yet to be worked out between the German government, GM and the Magna consortium before the deal’s closing, which is expected by the end of November.

GM agreed this week to sell a 55 percent stake of the European carmaker to the consortium, ending months of fraught negotiations that had weighed on Opel and its 50,000 workers.

Two people close to the deal told Reuters on Friday that further details to be worked out concern primarily the German federal and state government’s commitments to provide aid for Opel and did not pose a threat to the deal’s completion.

Germany has promised 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in state guarantees, to which other European governments were expected to contribute. But as the dust settled on the Opel deal, it was still unclear when and how much they would give.

“We’ll make a decision (on the timing) once we have further details,” a spokesman for Spain’s industry ministry said.

Any aid will require approval by the European Union.

Opel has four plants in Germany that make cars ranging from the three-door Corsa subcompact to Zafira vans, two factories in Britain under the Vauxhall badge, and major sites in Belgium, Poland and Spain free credit score online.

It was not yet clear on Friday how many of Opel’s factories would be shut as part of sweeping restructuring that its new owners hope will return the carmaker to profitability from 2011.

Harald Lieske, head of the works council at the Opel plant in the eastern German city of Eisenach, told Reuters that labor leaders hoped to start talks with the new owners next week.

Magna has said it could close a Belgian plant in Antwerp and a British factory in Luton if failed to lure new contracts that would use their capacity.

CLIENT BACKLASH?

Two weeks ahead of federal elections in Germany, some politicians said they had doubts that all details of the agreement would turn out to be favorable.

Guido Westerwelle, whose Free Democrat (FDP) party could form a coalition with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party following the elections, said he expected many details of the deal would remain sealed until after the September 27 poll.

“This was all about giving the government a chance to report such a success in the media shortly before elections,” he told German television station ZDF late on Thursday. 

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