Germany Braces for GM Bankruptcy

With talk of the possible future owner of the German brand continuously intensifying, the German government has to take into account a possible filing for bankruptcy of Opel’s current mother company, GM. In whatever hands Opel may end up in the end, it is important to protect its assets from creditors should the American manufacturer be forced into bankruptcy, German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told German newspaper Der Spiegel.

The German official told those currently involved in the battle for Opel to step up their efforts and avoid complicating the situation. "We want rapid, reliable information from the investors because we can't rule out that GM in the United States will have to file for bankruptcy at the beginning of June," Guttenberg was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"This could come at the same time interested parties are finalizing a deal with GM on Opel. Then we need to ensure Opel assets are protected from creditors. We are preparing for this scenario," added the minister.

The measures taken into account by Germany include handing over Opel assets to a trustee set up to protect the interests of creditors and coming to an agreement with a few banks to provide Opel with bridge financing. "In this way the firm's continued existence would be assured until a final deal with investors was reached," Guttenberg said.

Guttenberg said, once again, that the German state is not interested in taking a stake in Opel. So the final battle remains between Fiat and Magna. The latter of the two is now rumored to plan the creation of an European-Russian car manufacturer giant (together with GAZ), said, according to inside sources, to produce 5 million cars a year.