Report: Germany prepared to bail out Opel

Special Report:Global Financial

Crisis

BERLIN, Feb. 28 (Chinese media) -- The German government is ready to bail out Opel,

the European arm of U.S. carmaker General Motors, with up to 5 billion euros

(6.3 billion U.S. dollars), local media reported Saturday.

The government is prepared to take a temporary stake

of no more than 20 percent, the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper reported,

quoting sources close to the government.

GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said Friday

that Opel needed 3.3 billion euros (4.2 billion dollars) in aid to survive the

crisis.

On Friday, Forster presented his supervisory board

with an Opel rescue plan which will be forwarded to German authorities on

Monday.

The plan includes 3 billion euros from GM itself

along with some 1 billion euros in cost savings. Opel will repay all its state

aid by 2015, according to the plan.

Some 8,000 jobs are at risk at Opel as its parent GM

reported last week a fourth-quarter loss of 9.6 billion U.S. dollars due to

sharp decline in global demand.