GM Says Opel Not Preparing for Insolvency

Struggling U.S. carmaker General Motors denied a weekend newspaper report its German unit Opel was preparing for insolvency.

"This scenario is currently not on the agenda," a GM Europe spokesman told Reuters on Sunday.

German newspaper Die Welt had reported on Saturday, citing no sources, that GM and Opel seemed to be preparing for an insolvency at Opel, having hired three law firms with renowned insolvency experts.

The paper said GM Europe would be advised by Baker & McKenzie as well as Clifford Chance, while the management of Adam Opel GmbH had hired Heidelberg-based firm Wellensiek.

The GM Europe spokesman said the company had hired the firms to assess the effect of potential restructuring measures.

Meanwhile, the online edition of German magazine Focus on Saturday cited unnamed members of the German cabinet as saying Opel never paid tax in Germany because it transferred profit to its U.S. parent.

"It cannot be that the German taxpayer has to save a company that transfers its profits to the United States," Michael Fuchs of the Christian Democrats (CDU) told Bild am Sonntag.

The GM Europe spokesman did not comment on the reports but said the company had invested several billion euros since 2002 in the expansion of Opel's four German sites, a great deal of which went into the Ruesselsheim plant, near Frankfurt, where Opel has its headquarters.

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