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General Motors Corp. (GM) and Magna International Inc. (MGA) have reached a tentative agreement on the purchase of GM's Adam Opel GmbH unit, several people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Friday.

"There are clear positive signals in the talks ... A tentative agreement on a possible deal has been reached," one person said, adding that it remains difficult to predict when a final decision by the companies might be reached.

GM and Magna officials in North America declined comment, but one person familiar with the negotiations said: "Movement has happened and details are being put in place," though noting that any pact "still needs to be blessed by German government."

A final decision on an Opel sale would have to be made in the U.S., but the German government's support is crucial for Opel's prospects as the state is willing to provide EUR1.5 billion in bridge financing to avoid the operations getting embroiled into the expected bankruptcy proceedings of parent GM in the U.S.

German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told reporters in Berlin that there were new plans by Magna, which are currently being discussed with GM and separately being examined by the German government. He said this doesn't necessarily mean that a final decision would be made today.

Italian automaker Fiat SpA (F.MI) said earlier Friday that it remained interested in Opel but there was nothing more for it to discuss until GM, the German government and U.S. Treasury had settled their differences.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Fiat remains open to continuing discussions, but that it was "unreasonable to expect Fiat to provide funds" for Opel before the German government sets up the interim financing.

Marchionne also said that Fiat was not able to perform proper due diligence on Opel activities as it was unable to gain full access to the financial records of Opel and, therefore, was unable to make a proper merger proposal.

A spokesman for Fiat declined to comment on Magna and GM reaching a tentative deal.

Fiat and Magna are the two remaining bidders for Opel, which employs around 25,000 workers. Magna has teamed up with Russian auto maker OAO GAZ Group (GAZA.RS) and state-controlled OAO Sberbank (SBER.RS) in its bid for Opel.

After late night negotiations ending early Thursday morning, the German government delayed a decision on providing state-backed bridge financing to the Opel unit because GM on Wednesday submitted a surprise request for additional cash of around EUR300 million. Economy Minister zu Guttenberg and German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck at the time criticized GM and the U.S. Treasury for lack of transparency and demanded clarity on where German taxpayers money would be spent. GM and the U.S. Treasury rejected the allegations.

Government spokesman Thomas Steg said the government would only back a bridge financing of up to EUR1.5 billion, and not more. He also said a rescue of Opel "won't take place at any cost."

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

(Sharon Terlep, Jennifer Clark and Beate Preuschoff contributed to this story).