Wednesday of truth for Opel

Wednesday, May 20th 2009. Final deadline for anybody who’s seriously interested in taking over Opel. Today, concrete and final plans and bids must be presented to GM and the German government in Berlin. Today, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Economy Minister Guttenberg, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück und Minister of Labor Olaf Scholz are meeting in Berlin to decide next steps, Automobilwoche [sub] writes. GM emissaries from Detroit are also standing by in Berlin to check the bids, Handelsblatt learned.

A bridge loan, estimated at €2b, has already been arranged. Condition: There needs to be a viable partner, and GM needs to agree to the German trustee model, which hasn’t been met with a lot of applause in Detroit. But they are running out of time and money at RenCen. When GM goes bankrupt by the end of the month, and no Opel deal is closed, all bets are off. Only two bidders seem to stand a chance in Berlin:

Fiat and Magna. Both companies are lobbying hard. Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne yesterday met Berthold Huber, head of the metal workers union IG Metall. Huber prefers Magna, and Marchionne tried to talk him out of it. While Sergio shmoozed the unions and Thuringia’s premier Dieter Althaus, Magna had a sit-down with Opel’s worker’s council to get even more support for their concept. It’s popular in Germany, because it doesn’t include plant closures in Deutschland. A third, unnamed party may also bid today. With little chance for success, unless they bring a lot of money.

This weekend, a German government delegation will travel to Washington DC to sell their trustee model. If there is no buy-on in DC, then Economy Minister Guttenberg has another option: “an orderly bankruptcy.” No trustee model, no loans from Germany, no loans from Germany, no interested investor. And Opel will keel over with the mother ship.