Magna International and its Russian banking partner Sberbank have purchased 55 percent stake in Vauxhall and Opel from General Motors. 10 percent of the stake will be held by Opel’s employee trust fund and remaining 35 percent will be retained by General Motors itself. “The hard work over the past two weeks to clarify open issues and resolve details in the German financial package brought GM and its board of directors to recommend Magna/Sberbank,” GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement.
However, the sale will be considered as complete only when Magna is able to meet certain conditions. Details of these “conditions” have not been revealed so far. General Motors will continue to work in close collaboration with Opel and Vauxhall in developing new cars such as Insignia and new Astra. Magna has already agreed in principle to continue production at both plants in Britain. Although, uncertainty over Vauxhall's future is clear now the employee trade union has insisted that the British work force should be treated fairly.
While Magna has committed to keeping Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory open in Cheshire, it has not offered any reassurance for the Luton plant beyond 2013. The Luton factory produces the Vauxhall Vivaro commercial van in Britain, as well as building the van for Renault in Europe
