Opel: No Decision, No Money
As expected, the Loan Guarantee Committee decided not to decide anything in their meeting at the Economics Ministry in Berlin. Opel had requested €1.3b in state aid from Germany. They are making the rounds in Europe to collect another €500m. Countries that committed money, such as the U.K., will only pay if Germany pays.
„The Loan Guarantee Committee of the Federal Government and the States has discussed Opel’s application and has gone forward in the decision making process,“ said the ministry. “As a next step, the Steering Committee for Corporate Financing will review the application, as per the rules,“ DDP reports (via OpenReport.) Should that committee decide, there still are more that must be consulted. The interesting part is the media echo: There is none. I had to look long and hard to find that quote. Germany has other things to worry about. Such as Madrid against Fulham in the Europe League.
Opel’s Nick Reilly expects a firm answer by the end of the month. Doesn’t look like he’ll get one. The German government is running down the clock until Opel runs out of air.
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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do we actually have numbers on how much cash GM/Opel have and how much they burn by the hour? Before the bailout we always had those numbers and knew they'd be done by some time (until uncle sugar stepped in). but i haven't seen any cash numbers recently.
"€1.3b in state aid" are peanuts compared to the more or less unrecoverable loans Germany has shelled out for bank bailouts (one single bank, HRE, which was a bad bank from its very beginning, got 52 billion (c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypo_Real_Estate). Nobody currently knows what the Greek bailout will cost at the end. Some meager 128 billion, perhaps. So, why not shell out another 1.3 billion? There are taxpayers enough who won't/can't run away. Let's squeeze them a little more. Problem solved.