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GM Talking Opel With German Officials

Joseph Woelfel

Executives from General Motors(GMGMQ Quote) will meet with German officials in Berlin Tuesday to discuss competing offers for its Opel subsidiary, according to a report.

The talks will focus on progress on the sale of a stake in Opel to Canada's Magna International(MGA Quote), the German government's preferred bidder, as well as rival offers from Beijing Automotive and Brussels-based RHJ International, Bloomberg reports, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Talks with Magna have been set back by its demands to control distribution of GM's Chevrolet brand in Russia and to use GM's intellectual property for purposes not included in the original agreement, Bloomberg reports.

Over the weekend, it was reported negotiations for the sale of Opel to Magna were progressing and that they were nearing completion, according to the head of GM Europe.

Carl-Peter Forster was quoted in newspaper reports as saying he hoped the sale of Opel to Magna could be complete by mid-July.

Magna and its Russian partner Sberbank signed a nonbinding agreement in May that envisages Sberbank taking a 35% stake and Magna a 20% stake in the GM subsidiary.