GM Generali

Generali (AQEU:GM)
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General Motors Corp.'s (GM) European division Friday said it will present a plan Monday on how to save the company, saying it could become profitable again in 2011.

GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster told reporters at the Opel brand's headquarters in Ruesselsheim near Frankfurt that Opel needs EUR3.3 billion in capital, confirming statements made by a supervisory board member in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires last week.

The head of Opel's works council, Klaus Franz, said Opel may change its corporate structure, but aims to remain part of the GM network in Europe. It may sell plants to other manufacturers though, Forster said.

He also said that Opel wants to repay aid by 2014-2015. The outcome of the board meeting has been eagerly awaited as German politicians in recent days increased the pressure on GM Europe's management to come up with a convincing concept for the division's future business as the U.S. auto giant is seeking state aid at home and abroad in order to survive the current industry gloom.

The concept is set to be a cornerstone of consultations over the weekend between the German economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and the governors of German states with Opel plants over possible ways to avoid a collapse of the German brand.

German politicians are under pressure from labor unions to bail out Opel, GM's largest European brand by far, to help save the company's 25,000 jobs -- a number that more than doubles when including parts suppliers and other Opel-linked companies.

But German policy makers so far have been divided over the state taking a stake in the car maker, with Chancellor Angela Merkel saying that possible liquidity guarantees would be the right tool to help companies like Opel.

Company Web site: www.gm.com

-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512; christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com