Three Bids Submitted for GM's Opel

Updated from 1:40 a.m. EDT

At least three bids were submitted to the German government Wednesday from suitors interested in acquiring or taking a stake in the ailing Adam Opel GmbH, a GM Europe spokesman said.

Chris Preuss, a spokesman for the Zurich-based automaker which owns Opel, told the Associated Press that the bids had been received but did not identify who had filed them.

It was reported earlier Wednesday that at least three bidders would make formal offers for a stake in the European operations of General Motors(GM) on Wednesday and would be asked to come up with about 650 million euros ($887 million).

RHJ International, a Brussels-listed car parts holding company, emerged on Tuesday alongside Italy's Fiat and Canada's Magna(MGA) as serious contenders for GM's Opel-Vauxhall divisions, the Financial Times reports.

The three groups were expected to make offers for the stake by the deadline Wednesday, the newspaper reported, citing two people with knowledge of the deal.

Additional bids from up to three other private-equity and sovereign wealth investors were still feasible but weren't seen as likely, the report said.

The bids for Opel are being submitted just as GM said Tuesday it doesn't expect to reach agreement on concessions with the United Auto Workers union or with the Treasury Department on its debt-for-equity exchange before a deadline next week.

Both deals are part of the restructuring effort GM must complete by June 1, or it could be sent into bankruptcy protection.

GM said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the agreements aren't expected to be reached by May 26 -- the deadline for GM's bondholders to accept an offer to take 10% of the company's stock in exchange for wiping out $27 billion in debt. GM had said in its original debt swap offer that it expected to disclose terms of a UAW deal to cut labor costs before that deadline.