GM Motors will sell a 55% stake in Opel and Vauxhall to Russian bank Skerbank and Canadian auto supplier Magna. CNNMoney reports:
Under the plan, Magna, along with Russia’s Sberbank, will take over 55% of Opel. Opel employees will own another 10%, leaving GM with just 35% of Adam Opel GmbH, an automaker GM has owned since 1929, except for a period during Germany’s Nazi era.
Opel, along with its closely related British sister-brand Vauxhall, is GM’s largest-selling brand in Europe by far. Together, they represents more than 70% of GM’s European sales.
Earlier this year, the German government loaned Opel $2.1 billion to assist with completing the deal with Magna. Meanwhile, 65% of Opel’s stock was transferred into a trust controlled jointly by representatives of GM and the German government.
Opel, based in Russelsheim, Germany, employs 25,000 people in Germany and another 25,000 elsewhere.
GM will retain a 35% stake in Opel.
