Franck Asbeck, cheif executive of SolarWorld AG (SWV.DE), said his
company’s offer to purchase Adam Opel from General Motors (NYSE: GM)
still stands, and is more than just a publicity stunt.
Last week the German solar company offered to buy
GM’s German car unit for EUR 1 billion ($1.3 billion). But GM ignored
the unsolicited bid, and analysts suggested it was not to be taken
seriously, in part, because SolarWorld stipulated that GM would have to
pay each German employee EUR 40,000, essentially returning the EUR 1
billion purchase price to the German public.
The offer came after Opell announced it was seeking EUR 1
billion from the German government to survive the financial crisis that
GM faces.
Asbeck told reporters last week that SolarWorld was not making a "gag
offer," citing EUR 250 million in cash available for the sale and the
backing of a "large German bank" for the remaining EUR 750 million.
"At some point there will only be sun-motive vehicles. At some point
there will only be renewables as an energy source," he said. "And
that’s why we made the offer for Opel. They’ve got 6,000 engineers who
are more or less ‘captive’ in Russelsheim. They’ve got great concepts
that aren’t being implemented."
Link to the full report below.
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