Beijing Auto sees new hope in bidding for Opel

Shanghai, June 18 (Gasgoo.com) Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC) remains still be on the list of bidders for German carmaker Opel, after the Chinese carmaker was granted access to the troubled firm's accounts information, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported today.

Opel's US owner General Motors had agreed to the request by Beijing Auto, the paper said. BAIC was reportedly due to begin the process of due diligence in the coming days. The next step would then be for BAIC to make a binding offer to the bank charged with the sale of Opel, Dresdner Kleinwort.

Until now Canadian carmaker Magna has been the frontrunner in negotiations with GM over the sale of its European subsidiaries, after hammering out a rescue deal with the German government.  GM and Magna have set a target of July 15 for agreeing on the sale of a majority stake in Opel to the Canadian company and its Russian partner Sberbank.

At some point in the next two weeks a Chinese delegation will visit Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported. BAIC Chairman Xu Heyi is reportedly due to seek support for his proposals from employees, trade unions and politicians. BAIC had already named PricewaterhouseCoopers as financial advisers earlier this month.

BAIC's initial proposal had made broader concessions across the board than that of rival Magna. The Chinese bid had reached the German government too late to be included in the initial round of discussions.

The Chinese offer would likely be welcomed by GM and the German government, the newspaper said, as it placed pressure on Magna in the ongoing negotiations.