Report: Opel Sale to PSA Group Likely by March 9

PSA Group expects to finalize a deal to acquire General Motors Co.’s Adam Opel unit by March 9, sources tell Bild am Sonntag.

The newspaper says PSA has assured top German officials that it will operate Opel as an independent entity, continue to invest in all four Opel factories in the country until at least 2020 and not impose forced layoffs until 2018. PSA also aims to market the Opel brand globally, according to Automobilwoche.

PSA CEO Carlos Tavares is expected to meet this week with top British and French government officials to review the acquisition plan. Report say the two carmakers value the sale at $2 billion (€1.9 billion).

The Financial Times says British business minister Greg Clark has promised to support Opel’s two Vauxhall-brand assembly plants in England. Both face the threat of new European tariffs as great as 10% on cars and 5% on parts after the U.K. exits the European Union roughly two years from now.

FT says Clark also PSA the British government will seek “free and unencumbered” access to the European Union after Brexit. Clark also says it will lure more parts suppliers to England and support local initiatives for training and research into electric and other “green” vehicle powertrains.

Those pledges are similar to ones made by the British government to Nissan Motor Co. last October to coax it into continuing its investment in the company's big assembly plant in Sunderland.