The Board of Directors of General Motors (GM) has announced its support for selling a 55% stake in Opel, which also sells in the UK under the Vauxhall brand, to Magna International (Aurora, Ontario / Canada; www.magnaint.com). 10% of shares are to remain with the employees whereas GM itself would hold on to 35%. GM has conditioned the agreement on Opel remaining fully integrated in GM’s global product development organisation. Opel’s trust fund, which manages about 65% of Opel shares, has expressed its support for the deal. Commenting on the Board’s recommendation, GM president and CEO Fritz Henderson said that “GM will continue to closely collaborate with Opel and Vauxhall to develop and produce more great cars.”

GM said that definite agreements should be ready within a few weeks, following discussions with the trade unions and the German government, which had long supported a deal favouring Magna. A key issue of these talks is likely to be the financing package the German government will be willing to pay. For weeks the Opel saga had been dominating the agenda in Germany, the car-maker’s biggest country of operation.

Magna wants to buy into Opel together with the Russian financial institution Sberbank and the automotive producer Gaz. Magna is considered to be the world’s largest automotive supplier, with a turnover of USD 23.7 bn in 2008.