Opel bid by green energy pioneer
Thu 20 November 2008
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The Chief Executive of a German renewable energy company has made a surprise bid for General Motor’s German car unit Opel. Frank Asbeck of SolarWorld said his company would pay 1 billion Euros (US$1.26 billion) for Opel and create the “first green European automotive group”.
A statement said SolarWorld would offer 250 million Euros in cash and 750 million Euros in bank credit facilities for Opel’s four car factories and a key research center in Ruesselsheim, western Germany. Its goal was “to produce a new generation of vehicles with energy-efficient, low-emission [engines] in the future,” in addition to the current models.
It attached several conditions to the deal however, including a complete split of Opel from GM, which is threatened with bankruptcy, and compensation payments of 40,000 euros per Opel worker, which would approximately equal the 1 billion Euro purchase price.
SolarWorld also sought a liquidity guarantee for Opel from the German government.
US-based General Motors promptly rejected the bid. In Detroit, a GM spokesman said Opel was not for sale and claims otherwise were "pure speculation." Opel has plants in the German cities of Ruesselsheim, Bochum, Eisenach and Kaiserslautern. Its main plant in Ruesselsheim has about 16,000 workers and assembles up to 270,000 vehicles per year.
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