General Motors signs over Opel patents to US Treasury : report

Dow Jones Newswires quoted a German government source meanwhile as saying that GM, which holds Opel's patents, sold them to the U.S. Treasury in anticipation of buying them back at a later date.Â

 

All of Opel's patents were transferred to its U.S. parent, and the German auto manufacturer also no longer owns its factories and other sites, the government source said.

 

German officials are looking for the best way to help Opel, which employs 26,000 workers in Germany and 50,000 across Europe, and were to meet with Opel and GM directors on Friday, the chancellor’s office said late Thursday.

 

The auto executives must convince Berlin to back a restructuring plan that has received a cool reception so far.

 

German officials are concerned that Opel's strong dependence on GM would lead to state aid being transferred to the United States.

 

Conservative German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that Opel should consider declaring bankruptcy, in comments published Friday.

 

"In a case like that of Opel, one must also seriously consider resorting to declaring bankruptcy," Schaeuble told the business daily Handelsblatt.

 

"That would be a better solution than a state participation," he said, adding that a bankruptcy declaration "does not signify the destruction, but the conservation of economic value" at Opel.