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FRANKFURT — The board of General Motors Co. is expected to decide Tuesday the fate of Opel and Vauxhall, ending more than a year of uncertainty surrounding its business and restructuring in Europe and the U.S.
The U.S. automaker's board of directors is scheduled to meet in Detroit and part of the agenda is whether to give final approval for Canadian car parts maker Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sberbank to take a 55 percent stake in Adam Opel GmbH, cementing their selection by GM in September over a rival bid from private equity firm RJH International SA.
Under the terms of the deal, GM would transfer the 55 percent stake to the Canadian-Russian team and keep 35 percent, with the remaining 10 percent held by Opel's employees. Germany's government had favored Magna and Sberbank all along, and agreed to provide some euro4.5 billion ($6.7 billion) in financial aid.
The offer from RHJ International, based in Brussels, Belgium, required less government aid, but involved a deeper restructuring with far more job cuts, something Germany's government was keen to avoid heading into elections at the end of September.
So far, Magna says it plans to cut about 10,500 Opel jobs in Europe, with 4,500 in Germany.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes also wrote Germany's then-economy minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg last month to raise her concerns that Germany may have offered to provide aid only if Magna and Sberbank were chosen.
GM said that its board would address German government and EU concerns on the sale at its meeting today.
"I think GM will do the deal with Opel. There is no alternative," Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, an automotive economics professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen told The Associated Press on Monday.
"It would be too expensive and too complex to prolong it," something he said would be very damaging for all parties involved.
There have also been signs that the GM meeting today may just be a formality, given that some GM managers have already moved to posts at Opel. One example was Frank Weber, an engineer at GM's Volt electric car project whom the company said was being transferred to Opel's Ruesselsheim headquarters in Germany.
Going through with Magna is the "risk avoiding approach" for GM, Dudenhoeffer said.
It also gives the company an advantage with Sberbank as a partner in Russia's fast growing market. Withdrawing from the Magna-Sberbank offer would have made things difficult for GM in Russia, and Dudenhoeffer predicts the new Opel and GM will focus on Russia and developing markets especially in Asia.
There has been speculation that GM could also scrap its plans altogether and keep Opel itself or Magna could walk away — tired of European politics. Opel workers in Germany, where the company employs more than 25,000, have said they would strike should GM keep the company.
GM Europe employs 54,000 workers in more than 20 countries and its brands also include Cadillac and Chevrolet.
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