Opel workers to fight any plans to sell off R&D operations (updated)

Bertrandt AG

04/07/2018 09:15

* Le Monde reports PSA looking to sell part of Opel R&D
    * Opel works council says will fight any sale of R&D ops
    * Says management recently denied plans to sell
    * Calls staff meeting for Thursday, calls on CEO to speak

 (Recasts, adds works council comments, further details)
    DUESSELDORF, Germany, July 4 (Reuters) - Opel's labour
representatives said they would fight any plans to sell all or
parts of the carmaker's research and development business,
responding to a media report that parent PSA Group  PEUP.PA  and
Opel had sounded out possible buyers.
    "A sale of Opel's development would rob Opel of its future.
The technological heart of the Opel brand lies in engineering,"
Opel's works council said in a statement.
    Le Monde newspaper reported on Tuesday that France's PSA was
looking to sell part of Opel's R&D operations to help to restore
profitability to the loss-making unit.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1TZ5GB
    PSA and Opel had already sounded out automobile engineering
firms over the last few months so that they can submit offers
for four sections of the business that are valued at about 500
million euros ($583 million) in total, Le Monde said.
    Opel said on Wednesday that no decision had been made on the
future of the R&D arm but said that restructuring as part of
savings plan PACE could include strategic partnerships.
    "The Engineering Center in Ruesselsheim will also in the
future develop all Opel models and take on tasks for the 15
competence centres of the entire PSA Group," a spokesman for
Opel said.
    But he added that a solution for the R&D business needed to
be found considering a drop in the volume of work it does for
former parent General Motors  GM.N .
    PSA last year bought loss-making Opel and British sister
brand Vauxhall from General Motors in a $2.6 billion deal.
    The Le Monde report said four firms, Altran, Akka and
Segula, all French, and German company Bertrandt  BDTG.DE  had
been approached.
    Citing an internal document from mid-May, the newspaper said
the sale would cover Vehicle Engineering, Propulsion
Engineering, Tool & Die Operations and the test centre.
    The sections employ about 3,980 people, including at Opel's
historic headquarters in Russelsheim, and according to the
document the sale could happen by the end of the year.
    Opel's works council said that management had recently
denied that there were concrete plans to sell all or parts of
the development business or that there were concrete buyers
interested in the business.
    That denial was one of the reasons that workers agreed to
concessions in a labour deal in May, it said. It called on Opel
Chief Executive Michael Lohscheller to give staff an update at a
staff meeting at Opel's headquarters in Russelsheim on Thursday.
($1 = 0.8573 euros)

 (Reporting by Matthias Inverardi
Writing by Maria Sheahan
Editing by Douglas Busvine/Keith Weir)
 ((maria.sheahan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1286; Reuters
Messaging: maria.sheahan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))