Dubai: The car supplier group Magna International of Austrian-Canadian tycoon Frank Stronach delivered its final bid for the cash-stricken German car maker Opel, a General Motors subsidiary, on Friday.

According to Magna's CEO Siegfried Wolf, Magna is willing to invest 700 million euros (Dh3.59 billion) directly to maintain Opel's manufacturing in the short run, but is seeking additional "four to five billion euros" in loan guarantees from the German government to secure its long-term strategy for Opel.

This strategy includes an expansion of the Opel brand into the Russian market as well as contract manufacturing of other car brands in Opel's German factories, Wolf said. That way, all four Opel factories as well as the company's headquarter in Ruesselsheim - including its development department - could be retained, he added.

According to German media, the government in Berlin is favouring Magna's bid against the offer by Italian automaker Fiat, which said it would need at least seven billion euros in state guarantees for Opel and may be forced to cut some 10,000 jobs. Magna said its redundancies would only amount to 2,500, most of them in Opel's biggest factory in Bochum.

Another weak point of Fiat's bid is that it does not plan to invest cash into Opel given the fact that the Italian car group is itself burdened by 16 billion euros in outstanding debt. On the other hand, Fiat's offer is supported by the three banks UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Goldman Sachs.

Wolf also confirmed on Friday that Magna will form a consortium with Russian bank Sberbank and automaker GAZ to raise the urgently needed cash injection for Opel. Sberbank, one of Russia's largest financial institutions in which the Russian Central Bank holds a stake of 60.57 per cent, and GAZ, the carmaker owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, are planning to jointly hold 35 per cent of Opel.

Magna is willing to buy a 20 per cent stake, of which ten per cent could be held by Opel's employees in the future. The rest, 35 per cent, could remain with General Motors, Wolf said. He did not give details about Magna's plans with GM's second European brand, Vauxhall, predominantly Opel cars sold under a different logo on the British market.

Besides Magna and Fiat, two other bidders have joined the race for Opel in the last minute. One is US investment company Ripplewood Holdings, the other is Chinese automaker Beijing Automotive Industry.

A decision on Opel's fate is expected in the coming days.