GM Europe still favors Magna for Opel, despite confirming Beijing Auto Industry bid

GM Europe said negotiations for the sale of GM's Opel to CN autoparts maker Magna International were "further along," while confirming it received a bid from China's Beijing Auto Industry Maggie He said the Chinese automaker made a bid for Adam Opel, confirming weeks of speculation. GM Europe spokesman confirmed GM's in talks with BAIC but added it's concentrating on negotiations with Magna for a binding contract. GM said its memorandum of understanding with Magna is not exclusive &, thus, other companies can make bids. A GM statement said it "received, & is talking, proposals from RHJ Int'l. & Beijing Auto Industry" even as talks with Magna move forward. RHJ Int'l. , aka Ripplewood Holdings, is a Belgium-based industrial holding co. Over the weekend, Karl Forster, head of GM Europe, said he hoped the sale of Opel to Magna could be complete by mid-July. Detroit-based GM, which filed for bankruptcy protection, is racing to remake itself as a smaller, leaner automaker in a broad restructuring that is slashing its units and brands. GM's filing for bankruptcy protection was the largest ever for an industrial company, in which said it has $172.8B in debt & $82.3B in assets, and received $20B in low-interest loans before entering bankruptcy protection.