German government backtracks over GM Europe deal
The German government has today announced plans to review its role in the GM Europe sale after taking something of an aggressive approach and demanding that other governments involved in the deal pay their fair share. It would appear over the last few days that the proposed sale to Magna could be under threat with the UK government withdrawing support and the EU competition commission looking into state aid and the make-up of the deal.
As a consequence, the German government is now on the back foot and looking to step back from the limelight and allow others to play a role in the deal. It would seem that the authorities have now discovered to their horror that they have not been able to push through the deal using threats and intimidation. Whether this will be enough to see the UK government join the party again in the short to medium term remains to be seen but there is no doubt that as of today the proposed Magna takeover of GM Europe is on a knife edge.
If the Magna deal does collapse it is possible that General Motors, the parent company, would in fact be willing to take the operation back in-house and build for the future.
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