Report: GM once again mulling sale of Opel?
by Zach Bowman (RSS feed) on Jun 9th 2011 at 10:30AM
The rumormill is churning at full steam over whispers that General Motors is once again considering selling Opel. According to Reuters, two German magazines have reported similar tales without citing any sources, saying that GM is concerned that Opel won't be able to return to profitability anytime soon. The General hasn't commented on the situation publicly, but called the talk speculation in a letter to its employees. That comes after Dan Akerson, CEO of GM, said that Opel is continuing to bleed cash despite selling more vehicles than before.
The murky reports of Opel's sale claim that the automaker could go to a number of potential buyers. Those include the usual suspects like any one of a multitude of unnamed Chinese automakers or more curiously, Volkswagen. The logic behind a VW purchase of Opel is based on the fact that the people's automaker has fat stacks of cash on hand and an unwavering thirst to be the world's largest automaker. Reuters reports that Volkswagen refused to comment on the situation.
[Source: Reuters via The New York Times]
FONTE: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/06/09/gm-once-again-mulling-sale-of-opel/
Opel Frustrates GM, but No Sale Launched: Sources
By REUTERS
Published: June 9, 2011 at 1:51 PM ET
DETROIT/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors Co is frustrated with its money-losing Opel unit in Europe and considering options for a turnaround, but a sale is seen as unlikely, several sources familiar with the U.S. automaker's thinking said.
The sources, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters on Thursday that selling Opel was not realistic, playing down reports by two German magazines that the sale option was being explored again. However, the sources added Chief Executive Daniel Akerson is clearly frustrated with Opel's inability to return to profitability.
"Akerson is fed up with Opel, and the turnaround isn't gaining traction," said a person familiar with the GM CEO's thinking who declined to be named.
"He is trying to think of all possibilities to improve performance. But a sale is wishful thinking."
Auto Bild and Spiegel Online said possible buyers could be Chinese carmakers or Germany's Volkswagen. The magazines cited no sources.
General Motors declined comment. Opel also declined to comment, but its CEO, Karl-Friedrich Stracke, called the reports "pure speculation" in a letter to employees.
Volkswagen had no comment.
VW, Europe's biggest carmaker which has almost 20 billion euros ($29.3 billion) available to spend, is already juggling deals with Porsche SE, MAN and Suzuki.
GM dropped plans to spin off Opel in 2009 after months of negotiations to sell it, and embarked on a drastic restructuring to get the unit, which lost $1.6 billion last year, back on track.
Several sources told Reuters there is no formal sales process for Opel at this point.
GM executives feel "frustration" with the pace of Opel's turnaround and are concerned the unit, in its current form, may not be sustainable in the long term, one person familiar with GM's thinking said.
However, trying to sell Opel outright to another automaker is an unlikely option because the business is closely integrated with the rest of GM's global operations on technology and vehicle platforms, that person said.
GM may instead try to establish an alliance with another European automaker as a way to cut costs, the source said. A Chinese partner also could be an option.
GM shares were up 2.3 percent at $29.51 on Thursday afternoon.
HARD SELL
Akerson said in March that Opel was still losing money despite selling more cars, and on Tuesday at the company's first shareholder meeting since its initial public offering last fall he said the region still had restructuring to do but was making strides.
GM has been recovering in the United States after a $52 billion taxpayer-funded bailout and has been looking to its business in China, the world's biggest car market, to help drive growth.
European bankers said it would be difficult to sell Opel in the current environment.
Last time around, the German government and European countries that are home to Opel factories lined up a total of 4.5 billion euros ($6.57 billion) in loan guarantees to achieve a sale.
Now the German government is seen having its hands full with efforts to avert a sovereign default by Greece. Also, GM's relations with Berlin were soured after the U.S. carmaker performed a U-turn on talks to sell Opel two years ago.
A German government source said on Thursday Berlin was not involved in any talks over Opel at the moment.
Officials with the U.S. Treasury, which still owns 32 percent of GM's common shares, declined to comment.
STRONG DEMAND
Opel is expected to break even this year and show a profit in 2012. But its management has said it will likely take about five years to restore the brand's image in its home market after the carmaker appeared close to the brink for months.
CEO Stracke said in the letter to employees, which was seen by Reuters, that Opel was making very good progress.
"Incoming orders are very good right now. For the factories in (Britain's) Ellesmere Port and (Poland's) Gliwice we have already added eight shifts to meet demand for the Astra," Stracke said in the letter.
The company also said in a statement it planned to shorten the traditional summer shutdown at its main German factory in Ruesselsheim to meet demand.
Opel's works council said the reports that GM was considering a sale of Opel were "pure speculation" and called on the parent company to deny them.
GM had so far "kept Opel as it might otherwise lose technology and for other good reasons," Klaus Franz, head of the works council, said in a statement.
One source suggested the reports might be a "not very clever" negotiating tactic to pressure Opel's unions for greater flexibility or a "Plan B" that GM worked up as it weighs its options.
Stracke will address the rumors on Friday in a "town hall" meeting with employees at Ruesselsheim plant, an Opel spokesman said.
(Additional reporting by Rene Wagner in Berlin, Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf, Jan Schwartz in Hamburg, Jonathan Gould and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt, and Soyoung Kim in New York; Writing by Maria Sheahan and Peter Dinkloh. Editing by David Cowell and Matthew Lewis)
FONTE: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/06/09/business/business-us-opel-gm.html?_r=3&hp
COMENTÁRIOS: Da minha parte, comentando a tentativa anterior de venda da Opel, desde o começo a história parecia estranha. Estranha, porque como diz o texto acima, a Opel está tão entranhada nos processos de engenharia e desenvolvimento da GM que vendê-la seria algo desesperado na busca de dinheiro, pois significaria revelar muito das entranhas da empresa como um todo. Cito apenas o caso dos motores a injeção direta que, a rigor, são TODOS produtos da engenharia Opel. Cito também o caso das plataformas, a Epsilon, do Insignia, que agora serve também ao novo Malibu e, aumentada, ao LaCrosse da Buick, que tem hoje TODOS seus modelos baseados em carros Opel. Quando a Magna apareceu fazendo uma oferta tão acima do que se esperava, para mim ficou claro que ela seria o "boi na linha" que provavelmente foi colocado para o negócio não sair, ou se saísse, custasse muito a quem comprasse, comprometendo seu desempenho por anos. Lembro que logo após a "desistência" da venda, a Magna ganhou vários contratos com a GM para fornecimento de partes e peças, inclusive com o fornecimento de conjuntos completos à montadora. Suspeito, muito suspeito.
Sobre a Opel em sí, para mim é uma montadora fantástica, que tira leite de pedra, como o caso da suspensão com paralelogramo de Watt que, mesmo reconhecidamente não tão perfeita como uma multi-link, chega quase lá, e com um custo muito menor. Tem carros com design lindo e com qualidade construtiva e de materiais reconhecida, tanto assim que virou a "mid-market luxury brand" da GM nos EUA com a Buick, ou seja, uma montadora de carros luxuosos, mas não tão luxuosos assim que cheguem ao nível do "trio de ferro" alemão, tarefa que deverá ser da Cadillac. Virou um degrau entre os Chevrolet e Cadillac. O grande problema é que ela NÃO DÁ LUCRO DESDE 2.002, sendo que em apenas um ano o resultado foi positivo em US$ 78 milhões, uma ninharia que não ajuda no financiamento de novos modelos e não remunera os acionistas.
O meu sonho dourado seria que a Opel fosse comprada por algum magnata brasileiro. Tomara que o Eike Batista, o pessoal da Ambev, do Bertin e outros leiam isso. Claro que, como disse, tem o problema da falta de lucro, mas aí, a questão é virar a montadora de cabeça para baixo, pois nela estão os vícios da GM mais o assistencialismo pesado alemão, tudo junto e misturado. É bom lembrar que até a VW, que tem o Estado da Baixa Saxônia como acionista fez muitos cortes para virar a máquina de lucros que é hoje e o mesmo se aplica à Opel. A questão é se a GM ao menos toparia vender o controle da Opel para que outrem a gerisse, mantendo um acordo de cooperação de longo prazo. E PAPAI NOEL, QUE O COMPRADOR SEJA UM BRASILEIRO!