Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Adam Opel GmbH, the German carmaker being sold by General Motors Co., won a commitment from labor leaders to reduce expenses by 265 million euros ($389 million), helping pave the way for a purchase by Magna International Inc.

Employees agreed to cut Christmas and vacation pay, delay a wage increase until 2011 and suspend pension contributions for two years, Opel’s works council said today in a statement.

“The cuts are hard for us all, but we’re prepared to accept responsibility,” Klaus Franz, Opel’s top labor leader, said in the statement. “We have done our part so that the contract between Magna and General Motors can be signed.”

The concessions are part of Magna’s terms for buying Ruesselsheim, Germany-based Opel and its Vauxhall brand in the U.K. Job cuts aren’t part of the current agreement and will be negotiated after Magna signs a deal, Franz said. Opel’s workers said the measures are conditional on GM signing a contract with the bid group led by the Canadian auto-parts supplier.

GM’s board is meeting today to reconsider the offer by Magna after the German government said Oct. 17 that it would be willing to back other investors. The European Commission had expressed concern that Germany improperly favored Magna’s bid.

Today’s meeting is likely to confirm the decision to sell to the Canadian company, Carl-Peter Forster, GM’s European chief, said today at an auto-industry conference in Berlin. The deal is the “best solution” and offers “very interesting possibilities” for expansion in Russia and elsewhere, he said.

Sberbank

Magna, Canada’s largest auto-parts maker, is partnered with OAO Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, and will invest 500 million euros in Opel in return for a combined 55 percent stake.

Germany is providing 4.5 billion euros in financing for the deal, which Opel will repay by 2015, Siegfried Wolf, Magna’s co- chief executive officer, said Sept. 14.

Opel’s workforce, currently about 50,000 employees, would receive a 10 percent stake in the carmaker in exchange for the concessions, according to Aurora, Ontario-based Magna’s initial purchase agreement. Detroit-based GM will retain 35 percent.

The labor accord runs for two years and new savings measures will need to be agreed after workers return to industry wage levels in 2012, Franz said in a telephone interview.

About 10,000 jobs are likely to be eliminated following a takeover by Magna, with at least one factory closing and perhaps as many three, European chief Forster said, identifying a plant in Antwerp, Belgium, as the most vulnerable.

Future Leader

Forster said no decisions have yet been made on the future leadership of Opel. Magna executive Herbert Demel, not Forster, will head the business, the Hannoversche Allgemeine newspaper reported today, citing unidentified company officials.

Opel may seek another financing partner as an alternative to GMAC LLC, the auto and home lender which has received $13.5 billion in U.S. government bailouts, said Forster, who envisages more than 1.5 million car sales at the business within three or four years. Opel is sufficiently liquid, with monthly cash positions that have consistently exceeded targets, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Reiter in Berlin at creiter2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 12:22 EST