BERLIN (Reuters) -- A bid for Opel by China's Beijing Automotive Industry Corp. (BAIC) could still be in the running if the company comes up with a more detailed offer, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said.
Steinbrueck's comments came after a meeting of senior German government ministers on Wednesday night to discuss offers from potential new owners or partners for General Motors' Opel and Vauxhall units.
Before the meeting, Steinbrueck said BAIC's offer came too late for the government to assess it in depth.
Germany's Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has described BAIC's offer as a very rough draft on "two pages."
BAIC managers and advisors are set to meet the German government next week, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The paper said the Chinese carmaker still had a slim chance to enter the Opel bidding process and comb through the carmaker's books if the government approved its takeover proposal.
BAIC envisions keeping all four Opel plants in Germany for at least two years and foresees no job cuts in the country, a financial source told Reuters.
The source also said the concept calls for less than 5 billion euros in state aid. BAIC would invest 660 million euros in equity.
Another source familiar with the matter said BAIC planned to make Opel a global brand, selling in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere, where GM would be "not exactly pleased" with the competition.
BAIC builds cars for Hyundai in China and also is a large maker of commercial vehicles.
