Germany's finance minister said on Saturday that all sides have reached a deal for the Canadian auto parts maker Magna to take over General Motor's Opel unit and the government promised a bridge loan for Opel to avoid insolvency.

After a high-level meeting attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Peer Steinbrueck told reporters here that the German government has approved Magna's bid for Opel, saying an agreement was reached early Saturday.

"I can tell you that a deal has been reached," the minister said.

Steinbrueck said the decision wasn't easy and all the federal and state representatives were aware of the "risks."

"We all have a high interest in maintaining employment at all four Opel sites," he said.

Under the agreement, Opel will be put under the care of a trustee later Saturday. The German government will also provide a 2.1-billion-U.S.-dollar bridge loan to help Opel bottom out.

Siegfried Wolf, a co-CEO of Magna, said he believed the agreement with GM will be inked in five weeks time, despite the fact that there were still some details to be settled.

Magna, one of the leading bidders for Opel, won German government's favor from Italian car maker Fiat SpA, as Fiat rejected to make a cash bid and pulled out the talks on Friday, while Magna chose to insert 300 million euros in cash with total investment amount of 700 million euros in partnership with OAO Sberbank, Russia's biggest lender, local media reports said.

The German government has been pursuing ways to prevent Opel from being dragged into bankruptcy by its owner General Motors, which is expected to seek bankruptcy protection next week.

The decision relieves both German government and GM, as German Chancellor Merkel is under great pressure to save 25,000 German jobs in Opel in the upcoming election in September, while GM is selling a majority stake in Opel, including the Vauxhall brand in Britain, as part of a global reorganization before a U.S. government-imposed June 1 deadline to restructure.

General Motors Europe, which includes the Opel unit, employs a total of 55,000 people in European countries. Nearly half of the people are employed in Germany at Opel plants in Bochum, Eisenach, Ruesselsheim and Kaiserslautern.

After staying away from the talks, Fiat turned to its deal with Chrysler and is waiting for a U.S. court's decision on the deal. Fiat is on the verge of taking control of a 20 percent stake in Chrysler.

Magna, which has over 70,000 employees in 326 plants in 25 countries and supplies components and systems to many of the world's leading carmakers, wants to use Opel to enter Russian market, a fast-growing car market before the economic crisis hit in late 2008.

According to Magna's website. About 14 percent of its 23.7 billion dollars in sales last year came from assembling complete cars and trucks.

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2009)