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FRANKFURT : US auto giant General Motors is holding the door open to other potential buyers for its German unit Opel despite Berlin's backing for a bid by Canadian firm Magna, a report said on Wednesday.
GM and Opel are holding talks with several potential buyers, including the Chinese group BAIC, German business daily Handelsblatt said, citing Fred Irwin, the head of a trust company which is managing Opel.
A GM spokesman told Handelsblatt: "We are in talks with several bidders," beside the Russian-backed Canadian company. "The outcome is open."
The German government in May unveiled a rescue plan under which 55 percent of Opel would be sold to Magna, but talks have bogged down since and GM appears to be trying to put pressure on the Canadian company to obtain the best deal.
Irwin added that a letter of intent signed last month with Magna, which assembles cars and makes auto parts, was not contractually binding.
A delegation from BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation) is to meet Opel managers this week and has been granted access to its accounts, as has the investment fund Ripplewood -- a former bidder, the newspaper said.
"All interested parties have the same information rights," Irwin said.
The final decision on who to sell Opel to lies with General Motors, which has declared bankruptcy in the United States.
Ripplewood, acting through the holding company RHJ International, and BAIC had both expressed interest in Opel before the Magna deal was announced, but were eliminated following an examination of their offers.
The Italian car maker Fiat had also bid for Opel.
Until a final agreement is reached, Opel is being managed by a trust company which is financed by German public credits.
A representative of the IG Metall trade union slammed the GM-Magna talks, charging that the head of GM Europe, Carl-Peter Forster, had been excluded.
"Magna and GM are holding talks now that completely exclude Forster," Armin Schild, who sits on Opel's supervisory board, told the magazine WirtschaftsWoche in comments published on Wednesday.
"It is not possible that the framework of the new company is set up without the European head being present," he added.
He said talks between IG Metall and Magna have been tough, with the Canadian group trying to "cut as deeply as possible" into Opel's workforce.
Opel employs 50,000 people in Europe, including 25,000 in Germany, of which Magna has said it wants to eliminate 10,000 and 2,500 respectively.
IG Metall wants to maintain Opel's four German production sites and prevent job cuts in the country.
- AFP /ls
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