With a General Motors (NYSE:GM) bankruptcy filing imminent, concerns arose on how to protect GM's European assets which include car marker Opel and as much as 50,000 European employees. On Friday, reports surfaced that Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International (NYSE:MGA) reached a tentative deal to acquire the assets. The deal, which still needs approval by Canadian and German parliaments, was solidified early this morning after hours of late-night meetings in the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel which were apparently aided by conversations with President Obama. Chancellor Merkel said, "I spoke on the phone with the American president yesterday and we were in agreement that we had to do everything possible to come up with a good result for this complicated task. That conversation clearly influenced the negotiations last night." The deal, which still has certain details needing to be finalized, includes bridge financing for Opel worth 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion).

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