| Author (Person) | Reed, John, Schäfer, Daniel |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Financial Times |
| Series Details | 21.10.09 |
| Publication Date | 21/10/2009 |
| Content Type | News |
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Article reports that in a letter sent at the weekend of 17-18 October 2009 to General Motors and the Opel Trust, which is overseeing the sale of Opel, the German government said that its aid of up to €4.5bn for the US carmaker’s European unit was not conditional on Berlin’s preferred bidder winning control. For anyone who has followed the tortuous sale of a majority stake in Opel to Canada’s Magna International and Russia’s Sberbank, the assurance – made to allay the European Commission's warning that such conditions might violate state aid rules – represents a startling about-face in Berlin’s stance to date. German government officials acknowledged on the 20 October 2009 that several domestic politicians previously made 'ambiguous statements' that could have been misinterpreted by the European Commission and others. Subsequently, General Motors said it would delay signing binding agreements on the long-running sale of Opel until early November 2009 so that its board can respond to the European Commission review of the deal. |
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| Subject Categories | Business and Industry |
| Countries / Regions | Europe, Germany, Spain |
