German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that US auto maker General Motors had agreed to sell its Opel unit to Canadian auto parts maker Magna, the buyer she has favoured for a major employer in Germany.
"I would like to inform you that the head of the chancellery was informed a short time ago by (GM chief Fritz) Henderson that GM's board has decided to sell Opel to Magna under the terms we had negotiated," she said, hailing a decision just over two weeks before a German federal election.
"I am exceptionally happy about this decision, which is along the lines of what the government wanted," she told reporters ahead of a GM press conference in Berlin.
