General Motors Co. agreed to sell a majority stake in its Opel unit to auto-parts maker Magna International Inc., the buyer favored by Germany, after resolving disputes over financing and access to technology.
Magna and Russian partner OAO Sberbank, backed by German loan guarantees of 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion), will own 55 percent of Opel, GM said today. GM won assurances on funding and its intellectual property, said a person familiar with the talks who asked not to be identified because details aren't public.
The accord is the first major strategic move for Chairman Ed Whitacre since he joined GM's revamped board after a U.S.- backed bankruptcy. Directors surprised Germany last month by signaling they might keep money-losing Opel rather than selling to Magna under terms Detroit-based GM considered unfavorable.
"It's clearly a new GM," said Gerald Meyers, a former chief executive officer of American Motors Corp. who is now a management professor at the University of Michigan. "This is nothing the old board and management would have done. The idea of selling Opel and selling to this party would never have been considered."
GM isn't getting any money in the deal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government offered 1.5 billion euros in loans to keep Russelsheim, Germany-based Opel afloat earlier this year. That aid is part of the guarantees to back Magna's bid and save jobs.
Magna and Sberbank, a Moscow-based bank, are putting up 500 million euros, with 450 million euros in equity and the rest in a convertible loan. GM retains a 35 percent stake, and Opel workers will get 10 percent.
