Opel: Magna Cum Laude

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: April 30th, 2009

Meanwhile, in Europe, Chrysler gets a yawn, but all eyes are on Opel. Who, when, with whom? Fiat’s entreaties received a loud “NEIN!” from all colors of the German spectrum. The current darling appears to be Magna: Closer to home, Austrian, just like Porsche, not Chinese, politically well-connected.

The Austrian-Canadian car parts maker and contract manufacturer Magna has presented a “rough outline of a rival offer to seize control of General Motors’ Opel unit ahead of Italy’s Fiat” to German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Reuters reports. Fiat and Magna had a sit-down with the Minister. After the meeting, Guttenberg said Magna’s concept was “interesting.” He then pulled out a broken record and announced that the German government needs more facts and figures from GM. They’ve been saying this for months, and apparently feel ignored. Guttenberg said this wait “is tiring.” Further in the rope-a-dope dept., the US government also owes Germany some facts and figures. Once in hand, Guttenberg would then be ready “to think about loan guarantees.”

Ever the politician, Guttenberg said the concepts from Magna and Fiat were very different from each other, but were the most substantial plans he had seen so far from potential investors.

Industry insiders think Magna has the inside track and Fiat is just being kept around to make the race interesting. Financial Times writes that “ Magna appeared to move into pole position to buy a large stake in General Motors‘ European operations after the German economics minister praised a takeover plan by the Canadian car parts supplier. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg joined in the chorus of politicians and trade unionists who have hailed the car parts maker’s investment concept for GM’s German and British marques Opel and Vauxhall.”

According to Automobilwoche [sub], Magna wants the majority in Opel. They want to buy 19.1 percent outright and the rest via subsidiaries. Magna appears to be the favorite of the SPD party. Both Kurt Beck, premier of Rhineland Palatinate (where Opel has factories) and Vice-Chancellor Steinmeier (both SPD) like Magna. Steinmeier likes Magna so much that he met Magna executives over the weekend. Steinmeier, who has the Secretary of State portfolio but is also Angela Merkel’s bitter rival in the Fall elections, met Magna-Europe chief Wolf and Franz Vranitzky. Vrnaitzky is a member of the Magna supervisory board and was Chancellor of Austria when the Austrian version of the SPD, the SPÖ was in power.

Germanys’ centeer-right CDU should actually champion center-right Berlusconi’s Fiat, but there are limits to everything.

Frank Stronach said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday that their bid is a charitable act: “We only want to help,” Stronach told Austria’s Kleine Zeitung.

Of course, there is also the little detail that “we supply Opel and it has to be in our interest that Opel does well. The market must not be lost,” Stronach said.

According to the FT, Magna reported a net loss of $148 million in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with a profit of $28 million a year ago.

Magna was an unsuccessful bidder for Chrysler in the 2007 deal in which the US carmaker was sold to Cerberus Capital Management for $7.4 billion. However glad they may be that hey lost that deal, they apparently haven’t lost the appetite to become a full-blown car company.

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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Mistrernee on May 01, 2009

A Magna owned Opel/Vauxhall/Saturn would be pretty incredible in my opinion provided they have the stones to do something with them.

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PeteMoran on May 04, 2009

@ BS The FT's coverage is interesting. Complete the deal(s) by May and re-list the spun off companies by the end of the European summer. Fiat or their distressed asset advisors must be smoking something pretty damn strong.

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