June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Magna International Inc., Canada’s biggest auto-parts maker, said it aims to complete the purchase of General Motors Corp.’s European operations by September, once antitrust regulators approve the acquisition.

“The timeframe is very tight,” Magna Co-Chief Executive Officer Siegfried Wolf told reporters today at the Ruesselsheim, Germany, headquarters of GM’s Adam Opel GmbH division. “We don’t have a second to lose.”

Wolf and Opel labor leaders met today for the first time since Magna and Russian partner OAO Sberbank reached an agreement with GM on May 30 to buy the unit. Wolf said he wants to sign a purchase contract with the Detroit-based carmaker after a five-week review of Opel and its Vauxhall sister brand in the U.K.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government approved Magna’s proposal to buy the GM Europe division under a plan to provide 1.5 billion euros ($2.13 billion) in loans to keep the unit afloat. As many as 11,000 jobs may be eliminated across Europe, including 2,600 in Germany, following the takeover.

Klaus Franz, GM Europe’s top labor representative, said today that there would be tough negotiations to keep plants open in Luton, England; Antwerp, Belgium, and Bochum, Germany.

“The goal remains to avoid plant closures, but it’s unclear whether we’ll be successful,” Franz said at the news conference. “We have a hard road ahead of us and when we get there, it won’t be a land of milk and honey, but it will be a land in which we have a future.”

Labor Costs

GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said at the briefing that the division, the maker of the mid-size Insignia sedan, was sticking to a goal of cutting labor costs by $1.2 billion.

Opel is now owned by a German government-backed trust, shielding it from GM’s June 1 bankruptcy filing in the U.S. Merkel, facing national elections on Sept. 27, is under pressure from lawmakers and labor unions to save the 25,000 jobs Opel provides in her country, out of GM Europe’s total workforce of 55,000 people. Germany has paid an initial 300 million euros in bridge loans, GM said yesterday.

The U.S. carmaker is also disposing of its unprofitable Trollhaettan, Sweden-based Saab Automobile division, which is also operating under protection from creditors. GM said when announcing the European operations’ reorganization in February that it was cutting ties with Saab.

Magna, Sberbank Stakes

Magna, which has headquarters in Aurora, Ontario, and a parts- and vehicle-making plant in Graz, Austria, would own 20 percent of GM Europe, according to initial plans. The transaction would leave GM and Moscow-based Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, with stakes of 35 percent apiece in Opel, with employees holding 10 percent.

The workers’ stake could rise to as much as 15 percent at the expense of GM’s holding, Franz said, adding that the final ownership stakes depend on Opel’s valuation.

The carmaker, which will be called Opel Vauxhall after it’s reorganized, aims to sell 2 million cars a year once it can market vehicles worldwide, which could be in about five years, Franz said. Wolf was warmly received by Opel workers at the meeting, because his laconic manner and simple explanations made him “believable,” the labor chief said.

“Already I have much more in common with Magna than I ever had with GM,” Franz said.

German state and labor leaders said repeatedly after plans were submitted on May 20 that they favored the Magna-Sberbank bid, which included as much as 700 million euros in investments, over a non-cash offer by Fiat SpA, Italy’s biggest manufacturer. Russian carmaker OAO GAZ is another partner in Magna’s proposal.

Alternatives ‘Open’

Other investors may still have a chance to buy Opel because Magna and Sberbank have yet to sign any purchase agreement with GM, Ulrich Wilhelm, a German government spokesman, said at a Berlin news conference today.

“At the moment we’re in the phase of a provisional agreement, discussions are ongoing and the process is still open for other bidders,” Wilhelm said. “This has been made clear by all parties involved.”

In addition to Fiat and the Magna team, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. and Brussels-based RHJ International SA indicated they may want to buy Opel.

RHJ submitted an offer that the government rejected in final talks a week ago, while Beijing Automotive informed Germany of its possible interest after a May 20 filing deadline. The Chinese automaker met with German authorities yesterday, according to an official of the coalition government.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Reiter in Ruesselsheim, Germany, via 6226 or creiter2@bloomberg.net; Rainer Buergin in Berlin at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 3, 2009 10:56 EDT