Magna to Talk with VW Over Opel Deal

Magna International, who has been chosen to be Opel's next owner, is looking to talk with Volkswagen, one of the main customers of the company, over the planned acquisition of the German brand and resolve some issues that are believed to affect their business. Volkswagen earlier this month raised concerns over a potential deal between Magna and Opel, saying that the Canadian - Austrian partsmaker could become a competitor. Magna is currently one of the main suppliers for Volkswagen.

"We, as a company, do not like it when our supplier becomes our rival," VW chairman Ferdinand Piech said according the Financial Times Deutschland.

Back in August, Opel’s labor union leader Klaus Franz, said it compares VW’s reaction to a form of blackmail, as the company could influence the course of negotiations.

"The threat not to award Magna with contracts is tantamount to blackmail," he said. "Whoever says a rescue of Opel through Magna poses a competitive disadvantage is hoping for the downfall of Opel in order to gain an edge for himself and reduce his own overcapacities at the cost of Opel," Klaus Franz added.

Meanwhile, Magna is still struggling to put things straight with Opel's workers who started protesting against the company's announced job cuts.

"We have not been told that Antwerp will be closed," he said. "Magna has not said that the Antwerp factory is going to close," Rudi Kennes of Belgium's FGTB trade union told German HR-Info radio. "If we don't fight today for the future of Antwerp, it will be the same thing at another plant tomorrow," Peter Scherrer, German head of the European metalworkers federation (FEM), told AFP.