Chinese Buyers Interested in Opel, 500M Euros Minimum Expected

Opel's soap-opera continues with a new episode, this time involving Chinese companies who are reportedly interested in buying GM's German unit. According to a report by Autonews, sources familiar with the negotiations confirmed the rumors, saying that both Chinese and European groups are looking to purchase Opel/Vauxhall. Overall, there are four financial and two strategic investors who are eying the majority stake of Opel, Autonews wrote, with total costs totaling around 500 million euros ($649 million).

An anonymous source also confirmed for the Financial Times that General Motors expects to get at least 500 million euros for the two European units but details are quite sketchy at this time.

What's interesting is that none of those rumored to be involved in Opel negotiations confirmed the reports and a Reuters source claims none of these parties are actually interested in buying the German manufacturer. Until now, Fiat, SAIC, Abu Dhabi based Aabar Investment and some other Arab investment funds, have all been linked with an Opel acquisition.

Furthermore, GM's newly-appointeed CEO Fritz Henderson recently confirmed that several parties are seeking more details regarding Opel but refused to unveil more details as General Motors signed confidentiality agreements with six groups.

"We continue to work aggressively to narrow our scope with different investors and are pushing to have investors firm up their interest in the next few weeks," a GM spokesman was quoted as saying by Autonews.

Opel is currently seeking up to 3.3 billion euros ($4.34 billion) from European governments to continue operations and get through the crisis without the need for cost-cutting measures. German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to support the ailing automakers but demanded interested companies to submit detailed restructuring plans in exchange for government money.