Magna and their Russian buddies Sberbank have a deal with GM: The Austro/Canadian/Russian combine will buy a 55 percent stake in Opel. That according to Magna Co-Chief Executive Siegfried Wolf who just told it to Reuters.
Not so fast, says Der Spiegel. A contract with RHJ is also ready to be signed.
Then, GM will ask the German government how much they would be willing to supply in tax payer’s money for each suitor. (The chances stand at €4b for Magna, €0 for RHJ.) Then, a recommendation will be made to the GM BOD.
Then, the matter needs to be approved by various governments. Don’t kiss the bride yet.
Volkswagen and Porsche muzzled their alpha males, and the bean counters hammered out a deal. According to Reuters, “Volkswagen and Porsche have broadly agreed on details for a deal to combine two of Europe’s most storied automakers.” Reuters has it from two VW supervisory board members, so this should be pretty close to what will go down: (Read More…)
China’s auto sales are redlining. First to recover from carmageddon China had jumped into double digit growth territory in February and never looked back. Months after month, the increases became bigger. Now, they explode.
You think Volkswagen/Porsche was a soap opera? The sequel could be right out of Tom Clancy’s word processor: People at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg and at Porsche in Zuffenhausen cast worried eyes toward Qatar. If they don’t, they should.
Their new sugar daddy, the Sheik of Qatar just narrowly escaped a coup attempt, if Stratfor [expensive sub] is to be believed. (Read More…)
GM and the German government could decide by the end of the week who will take over Opel, Germany’s deputy economics minister Jochen Homann said to Reuters. That’s no improvement.
Germany hasn’t lost its newfound appetite for new cars. July registrations weren’t quite up by 40 percent as they were in June and in May. But a plus of 29.5 percent compared to the same month in the prior period is nothing to sneeze at. Still powered by Abrwackprämie, the trend to smaller cars continues its trajectory. Sales of Mini-sized cars rose 144.1 percent, subcompacts grew 67.5 percent. Anything larger: Vergiss es. Who’s the big winner?
So the GM board met last night to decide on Opel’s fate. Did we say yesterday, “You won’t hear a decision?” You won’t. They couldn’t even bring themselves to a recommendation. “General Motors is taking more time to negotiate with Magna and RHJ International over the planned sale of its European arm Opel,” Reuters reports. Anybody surprised? (Read More…)
This evening, at 6pm local, the board of directors of General Motors will meet and discuss whether they should sell Opel to Magna or to RHJ. You won’t hear a decision. They will have to ask their overlords in Washington first. The German government, which is supposed to finance the deal, doesn’t take the meeting seriously anyway. Tomorrow, Tuesday, the German government will continue talks with both suitors, to get a better deal. When a final decision will be made, is anybody’s guess. “If you ask me what will happen when, then I won’t be able to give you an answer,” said a speaker of the German economics minister to Automobilwoche [sub]. Can anyone?
As time goes on, Opel’s chances to be rescued by an outside investor are dwindling. A member of the German government’s Opel Task Force told Reuters on Thursday that negotiations between GM and the two competing bidders (RHJ and Magna) for Opel could drag on longer than expected. The way it looks, the deal may never close – because GM doesn’t want to. There could be another rich sugar daddy: It’s you.
Geely has been given the red stamp of approval to go forth and buy Ford’s Volvo, Gasgoo reports. The permit was issued by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which has to approve foreign acquisitions exceeding $100 million. Gasgoo says that Geely is “the only Chinese automaker that has won official confirmation on such deals.” A thinly veiled hint that the Hummer deal is still up in the air. Changan, Ford’s joint venture partner for Volvo in China, said it would not run for Volvo “because of unspecified conditions,” Gasgoo says. How much money will change hands?
Last June, China’s overall vehicle sales had soared 36.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.14m units. The “passenger vehicle” segment rose 48.4 percent in June from a year earlier to a record 872,900 units. In July, these numbers will most likely be surpassed. While the rest of the world is in tears, China is on a tear. The indicator: GM.
There is the German government making noises that if GM doesn’t say “Ja” to Magna, the government can’t guarantee that another suitor gets loan guarantees. Which in German means, they won’t. GM can’t read the writing on the wall.
The higher they fly, the deeper they drown: Last year, Porsche did the impossible and reported a gain on €8.5 billion before taxes on sales of €7.4 billion. The impossible was performed with derivatives. Now, those derivatives bite Porsche in the you-know-where: The Porsche Holding expects a loss of up to €5 billion before taxes for the 2008/2009 fiscal, which ends on July 31, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. This loss is “due to the planned sale of options on VW stock” (to the Sheik of Qatar). “Other losses are the result of the consolidation” of the Porsche books with Volkswagen. Says Porsche in a statement. Don’t worry, they’ll survive. (Read More…)
Got a mid to large sized automobile manufacturer to sell? Preferably with the latest technology and know-how? Want to unload a portfolio of established brands? Drowning in debt? Then call +86 10 67699888 and talk to Xu Heyi at Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC). You may find an attentive listener.
The longer the decision over the fate of Opel drags on, the messier it gets. Last week, three parties handed in their bids: Magna, RHJ, BAIC. Later in the week, BAIC was kicked out of the race. Remaining: RHJ, darling of GM, and Magna, darling of everybody else. Then, more facts surfaced. They didn’t endear the bidders to the decision-makers. Not at all.
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