March 10 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., seeking U.S. and foreign aid to survive, favors a plan to sell at least half of its Opel unit to private investors with German government support, a person familiar with the plans said.

The proposal, in early stages, will still require GM’s European unit to save $1.2 billion (784 million euros) annually. That may include closing an Antwerp, Belgium, factory and selling a plant in Eisenach, Germany, said the person, who didn’t want to be identified because the talks are private. A Bochum, Germany, plant may be saved with sufficient concessions, the person said.

GM, surviving on $13.4 billion in U.S. aid and seeking as much as $16.6 billion more, is in talks with governments in Germany, the U.K. and Spain for funds for Opel and the Luton, England-based Vauxhall brand. The biggest U.S. automaker Feb. 26 reported a loss of $30.9 billion for 2008, including $2.8 billion from its European operations.

Opel’s 19-member supervisory board agreed in a Feb. 27 meeting at its base in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, to allow the creation of a separate, legal entity to restructure the money- losing unit.

The agreement to give up control, after 80 years of owning the maker of the Astra sedan and Zafira minivan, is part of a plan to win as much as 3.3 billion euros in European state aid and save what’s left of GM’s carmaking in the region.

GM plans to contribute 3 billion euros to support Opel. GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said the unit will run out of money to operate in the second quarter of this year without aid.

Advisers Hired

GM hired law firms Baker & McKenzie and Clifford Chance LLP to advise GM Europe and Heidelberg, Germany-based law firm Wellensiek has been retained by GM’s Opel unit to advise on reorganization and insolvency options, a GM Europe spokesman said March 7.

The structure of the plan being considered is similar to a strategy outlined March 5 by Roland Koch, prime minister of the German state of Hesse, in an opinion piece in the German newspaper Handelsblatt, the person said.

The discussion is preliminary and no specific investor has been identified, while there is some interest, the person said without identifying any prospects. A bank or an industrial company is possible, the person said.

German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg plans to travel to the U.S. from March 15 to March 18 for talks with GM executives on their plans for Opel. He is also scheduled to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Members of an auto team under the co-leadership of Geithner were in the Detroit area yesterday to review GM and Chrysler LLC products and facilities to determine whether to give the automakers the additional U.S. funds they say they need to survive.

Losses in Europe

GM’s top executive in Europe, Carl-Peter Forster, and Henderson will meet with economy and industry ministers from the 27 European Union member states March 13 to discuss the crisis in the automotive industry, according to Ton van Lierop, a spokesman for the European Commission.

GM Europe, which also includes the Saab Automobile brand, racked up $9.08 billion in losses from 2002 to 2008, burdened by costs for employee buyouts and other reorganization charges. Excluding these expenses, losses totaled $3.97 billion, according to GM data.

Saab, based in Trollhaettan, Sweden, filed for protection from creditors on Feb. 20 after GM said it will cut ties by the end of the year.

GM directly employs almost 56,000 people in Europe. More than 25,000 are in Germany, about 7,000 in Spain and close to 5,000 in Britain. Sweden employs another 5,000, mainly at Saab.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Reiter in Berlin at creiter2@bloomberg.net; Jeff Green in Detroit at jgreen16@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 10, 2009 14:49 EDT