State leader says Magna's Opel bid most attractive

‘The Magna concept focuses heavily on new ideas, new markets and new clients, while the others focus more on rationalization'

The premier of Opel's home state of Hesse said on Friday that Canadian-Austrian group Magna International Inc.'s MG.A-T offer for the car maker was the most attractive for Germany and that Fiat's rival bid was disappointing.
Three groups, including Magna, Fiat and industrial holding company RHJ International submitted offers for Opel, a unit of struggling U.S. car maker General Motors, by a Wednesday deadline.
Top German government officials are due to meet later on Friday at the Chancellery in Berlin to discuss the bids.
“I think there is a ranking in which the offer from Magna is closest to the hopes and wishes of many in the German political arena but also the workers,” Hesse Premier Roland Koch told German radio.
“There is a very interesting bid from a financial investor with the group from Ripplewood,” he said, referring to Belgian-listed RHJ International.
“And surely some are disappointed that the Fiat bid is very far from what some had hoped. It is a bid which requires new thinking if it is to be considered. There is a clear ranking.”
Mr. Koch said none of the offers would save all the jobs at Opel, which has four German plants employing roughly 25,000 staff.
He said the bid from car parts group Magna, however, went further than the others in terms of preserving German jobs and giving Opel, which traces its roots in Germany back to the 19th century, a clear future.
“The Magna concept focuses heavily on new ideas, new markets and new clients, while the others focus more on rationalization,” Mr. Koch said.
“Not all jobs can be preserved in a new European Opel group, but there are concepts that offer a more interesting outlook for the German sites than others do. Magna is one that offers a more interesting outlook.”