Germany: Talks With US On Opel Ongoing, Outlined Trusteeship
May 15 2009 - 6:52AM
Dow Jones News
Talks between the German government and the U.S. over the future
of General Motors Corp. (GM) German unit Adam Opel AG including a
possible trusteeship will continue and will possibly be stepped up
in coming days, German government spokesman Thomas Steg said
Friday.
"We are in a regular and very lively exchange with the U.S.
side," Steg said. "There are intensive negotiations and these
negotiations will be continued and possibly intensified even
more."
He said Germany has told the U.S. side it is considering taking
Opel into a state-supported trusteeship to keep it operating should
GM enter bankruptcy before Opel can be sold. This plan isn't alien
to the U.S. side, he said.
His comments follow a newspaper report saying the U.S.
government has rejected the German government's plan for a
trusteeship for Opel.
Steg declined to comment on this.
German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has said
the government would consider the trusteeship step, which could
include bridge financing, only if the two remaining bidders for
Opel submit detailed feasible bids by May 20.
-By Andrea Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; +49-30-288-8410;
andrea.thomas@dowjones.com