Opel Watch: German Punctuality

High suspense in the bidding for Opel. On Wednesday evening at 6 p.m., the deadline for bids had run out. However, only one bid—by Fiat—was in. But where was Magna? Minutes before the clock struck 6—or 18:00 in Berlin—the German government declared a stay of, well, execution.Then, finally . . .

On the dot at 6 p.m., Magna’s bid came in, reports the German Rheinische Post. Not all too surprising, it was a joint bid with the Russian auto maker GAZ, backed by the also-Russian Sberbank. GM finally confirmed receipt of three bids: Ripplewood had also handed in theirs. Nobody really knows, or cares, when Ripplewood handed in their papers. It was the Magna bid Berlin didn’t want to be without.

While officially GM has to approve the buyer, the real decision makers are in Germany’s government. They hold the purse strings of the loans any bidder will need. Berlin will decide by the end of this coming week—just in time for the impending bankruptcy of the mother ship GM. Tick-tock.